"Shopping"

Taking children shopping is a cruel thing to do to such a lovely pastime. It is self defeating. You might make a purchase or two, but you wont really shop.

You mommies know I don't lie.

Yesterday my sister and I took our 3 preschoolers, ages 4, 3, and 2, on a shopping excursion.
We thought we were prepared. It was an indoor outlet mall with plenty of running room, it had a huge play area for children, we used the carousel as a bribe incentive for good behavior. We brought snacks. We visited fun spots like the Rainforest Cafe, and saw the animals and fish at the Bass Pro Shop.

But I'm pretty sure we were getting some looks from other shoppers.
We had Those Children. You know, the ones on the verge of being out of control.
And I promise that most of the time occasionally those aren't our kids. But something seems to happen when they all get together. The excitement of being with their cousins coupled with a fun new place, and an unexplainable desire on the part of Derek to just run wherever his heart led him made for an interesting day.

It shouldn't surprise you that the only purchases we left with were things for the kids. A fitting room was more of a challenge than either of us was up for, so we just enjoyed the day for what it was-- a fun outing for our children.
And have fun they did!
I didn't bring my camera along with me, but I got a little video of our kids playing in a wiener while Corie tried to get a picture.



And how did we reward them for their nice and orderly behavior?



We're such suckers.