Inlaws back, already getting on my pip, I am being awkward for the hell of it

[jampots]

Its dh's 40th birthday today. This evening we (the children and dh and I) are going out with his parents, my 2 sisters and their dhs. We've all arranged to meet at the restaurant until MIL called dh yesterday saying they dont know where the restaurant is despite the fact its on a very busy main road. They've said they want to travel with dh, me and the children in our car. We've recently bought a new 7 seater but on the proviso that we dont use it above a 5 seater, dh is pissed that I keep ending up with everyones kids because we can fit them in. So dh apparently has said to his mum (after explaining that she does know where it is and the road hasnt moved in all the years she's lived in Brum) that they follow us. They wont do this because his "dad doesnt like driving". They have to drive back to Evesham tonight after the restaurant though and would be just as easy to travel to/from directly. I know they expect our children to go in the boot but we dont allow them to. Help me to piss my MIL off

tell them its the boot or nothing.

however, y buy a 7 seater if you dont use 7 seats?.....

she obviously likes the smell of new cars!!

cant think of anything to suggest really, she is being awkward though.

( im also very intruiged as to which restaurant this aswell, seeing as im in brum also- always looking for a nice place to eat!)

Say to her that you don't put the kids in the boot ever because it's potentially too dangerous.
But they are welcome to sit there ...

Drop your dh off at PILs' house, he can sit in their car and give directions or drive their car to the restaurant. You and the kids continue on in your car. Then when the meal is over everybody's car is there at the restaurant and PILs can drive themselves home (or do you think they might 'forget' how to get home too? )

yup - you won't put them in the boot. they can follow you there or go with someone else - one of your sisters maybe his mum can drive if his dad won't.

I'd like to know where you are eating too (as I'm Brum based as well...) Re the mil thing - no ideas really, like Bran's idea thou'

Looks like I'll give the inlaws the boot then

They're in Evesham we're in Solihull so no use going over there then coming back to Brum.

Carly - dh wanted a discovery I didnt because of the 7 seater-always-having-to-take-people situation - we compromised by saying that we would "ignore" the boot seats.

brumgirls - its nowhere really fabby but good for family meals and on the Hagley Road

could you say you need the boot for dh's suprise present (no in-laws in the car)? or for the buggies /pushchairs?

Is there a actually a safety problem with the boot seats? Only that my parents have a 7-seater Discovery, and I often sit in those seats.

Hagley road - hummm - narrow it down a bit! (what kind of food...)

Laura - my comment was tongue in cheek.

Laura - no safety problem just that I would prefer a boot length space between my childrens' backs and any point of contact in the event of a rear end shunt.

In the end MIL decided FIL couldnt go in the boot and she wasnt going to and my dd ended up there (she's taller than both me and MIL so completely unfair). Anyway I made it perfectly clear on teh journey that this was a complete one off and that for safety reasons our children are not allowed to sit in the rear seats. FIl announced he just likes being driven and he doesnt want to drive himself [grrrr]

Thanks for those replies - I was worried there for a minute! We end up a bit restricted seat wise, as DS always goes in the 'middle set' of seats as those are the Isofix ones. I can understand a preference not to use them if possible, but we don't always have an option (my parents live abroad, so we can't take our car with us), and I do feel that those seats are probably safer for me to sit in than the back seats in a rented compact car which doesn't have Isofix :)

to your in-laws though! Hope you won't have the problem in the future!

Don't you have taxis up there then?