Jon & Kate Plus 8 - Family Outing

Family Outing
While Jon is away, Kate takes the kids to paint their own canvasses and explore a Please Touch museum. Then Jon and Kate discuss their ongoing challenges with the show and how it has affected their lives.

~*~

Oh man - here it is! The big cliffhanger TLC has been promoting.

The producer announces that it's the last interview ever on the current set. Jon and Kate are happy to get rid of this set. The interview chair is awful and Kate says that the chair is the reason she looks awful on tv. I had no idea the chair was the reason.

Jon and Kate are always looking for new things for the kids to do. She found a place where the kids could paint pictures for Jon, who was out of town helping his mom recouperate from a broken foot.

Let's take a break here. Around this time, magazines (InTouch, People, Us Weekly) started reporting that Jon was spending time at the local bars and cozying up to some co-eds. There were some startling pictures that emerged showing Jon completely hammered and posing for pictures with some blondes. Yikes. Rumors of discord between Jon and Kate were flying around and no one really addressed it. But I wonder if there is trouble in paradise. Jon *never* mentions his mother other than to say that she's busy and doesn't have time to spare for his family. But now he's suddenly going to stay with her. Over a broken foot? It's a broken foot Jonny...not a life-threatening illness. Me thinks something else is going on.

Kate brings the 6 kids into an art studio and a teacher shows them around. The kids kind of attacked all the art projects they showed. Kate mentioned that she wasn't thrilled to see paint all over the floor (and in a painting studio no less), but said that it seemed like the instructors had it under control. Good call on that one.

One of the instructors starts to write each kid's name on the back of the painting. Aaden goes first and she asks what his name is. He tells her and starts to spell it. The teacher pays no attention and says, "A-I-D-E-N, I know this one." Poor kid. Collin nicely points out that there's no "I" in Aaden's name. I feel for Aaden and Collin - why Kate would have to mess up the perfectly regular spelling for these kids is beyond me. They are looking at a lifetime of telling people there's no I and add another L.

The kids get right to painting and look like they're having fun doing their thing. Kate interjects that they are painting in neutral colors so that they match her house. So the paintings aren't really for Jon, they're for her mansion. The teacher comes out with forks and says they're going to put down the paintbrushes and start using forks. It sounds like fun and something new. But Leah really isn't too sure about it. After the forks, the kids got to use sponges, paper towels, and splattering. Joel likes splattering and thinks it looks like snow.

Kate, as per usual, didn't seem too comfortable with the kids doing all this artsy stuff. She was afraid it would look like a garbage can, but in the end liked that there were all different layers to the artwork. The mess started to become too much for Ms. NeatFreak, so instead of interacting and encouraging her children, she retreated to her own painting.

I think I said this before, but I think Aaden's turning into a little spoiled brat. He gets paint on himself and demands that someone get him a paper towel. No one runs to his beck and call, so he yells it louder. I have never seen anyone really cater to these kids when they demand something, so I'm wondering if he picked this behavior up from his mother. Who apparently has become quite the little diva at her book signings. Rumor has it that she told her *staff* she doesn't want her *fans* to look her in the eyes. Okay, lady. You're a mom on tv, not a famous actress playing a tv mom.

We finally have the big reveal of the final products. Kate displays her painting first, of course. Which looks okay, I guess. All the kids' paintings look really good and cute. The kids did a good job and had fun saving their mom some money on buying decorations, all while making money for her being taped while painting. Isn't that lovely.

On what I'm thinking is another day, Kate takes all 6 of the younger kids to a Children's Museum. By herself. Now that the kids are older and can listen, Kate thinks it's reasonable to take them somewhere without help. Me thinks she has a not-a-nanny that just didn't show up on camera. This is the woman who can't dress her kids by herself, what makes us think that she can be responsible for all 6 of them out in public?

The first thing the kids get to do is run on the piano from Big. They seemed excited to run all over. Next, the kids played on this replica of the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, the museum's sound system was set to the same frequency as Kate's mike and her shriek was heard throughout the entire museum. The poor ears of the other patrons and yes, Kate, it was a nightmare.

The kids played at an airplane making station and then got to test it out and see how it flied. I know my boyfriend would have gotten a kick out of that, lol. But the big hit was the grocery store. Each kid got to get a cart and shop around. And man, those kids went to town. They all loaded up their carts full of stuff. After being satisfied with all of their purchases, they got to check out and then put their stuff back. Too cute.

The kids found a carosel that they wanted to ride. As they were waiting in line, each of the kids were sizing up what kind of animal they wanted to ride on. Since that would be too hard on Kate, she assigned them each an animal. And then she made them agree that "you get what you get and you don't get upset." I hear them saying that to those kids all the time. Are they allowed no variety? They're 4 and a half. They should be allowed some sort of option. When on the carosel, the kids didn't seem to mind what animal they rode on.

Last, the kids played in this water thing. Kate issued her standard warning that if they got wet, they'd have to go home wet. I swear she takes all the fun out of their lives. Everyone seemed to have fun playing and of course, they got a little wet. Which is normal. Alexis got really upset when Hannah splashed her. I would have freaked out too after the warning Kate gave her. What would a regular parent do if their kids got wet? Go in the bathroom and hope for an automatic dryer!

Everyone seemed to have a fun time and good thing for Mommy, they fell asleep on the way home. Isn't that nice...a mom that doesn't want to hang out with her kids.

And here it comes...the big announcement.

Kate starts by saying that she loves having the show and all the priviledges that have come with it. But she's just looking around for new opportunities and things to do with them. Okay...that sounds okay.

The producer asks how the year has been for Jon and Kate. Kate acknowledges that there have been a lot of changes and she's ready to go for season 5. (Wow - season 5) She loves what she's doing and feels this is her best job ever. If I had people throwing free stuff at me and fulfiling my every whim, I'd love the job, too.

Jon, however, voices some doubts. I was hoping these doubts would be about how the kids are being followed 24/7 and have no privacy, but he doesn't like living in the public. Everyone knows who he is and he can't go anywhere. Kate tells us that they have to iron things out. Jon says maybe they will be back, maybe they won't. A look of fear shoots through Kate's eyes and she puts on a fake smile and says that they're working through it. Kate reiterates that she *loves* what she's doing. Which I'm not exactly sure what it is that she does. She's not writing books - Beth wrote the first one and the second one is all pictures and bible verses (I peeked in Barnes and Noble the other day). Somehow I feel that the woman who insisted on *1* more baby is going to get her way and Season 5 will be here before we know it.

The show ends with Kate and Jon signing the wall of their set. Which is kind of cute and kind of strange all at the same time.

I looked online and IMDB lists that a new show is going to air in May, so I guess they worked threw their issues. Maybe this season's going to be the last.

SassySarah's Space: How awful that Jon's not happy in his marriage and life. The kids were cute, but they're getting old enough that they aren't doing cute toddler stuff anymore and probably want to be regular people. Maybe it is time to turn the lights off. Two thumbs down.