Yesterday, George had his work Christmas party from 3-6, and since I pick up the boys from daycare at 4:30, I knew I’d have to figure out something to do with the boys instead of just going home. I mean, I could have done that, but that’s not fun! Where’s your sense of adventure?

I debated between going grocery shopping (because it desperately needs to be done) and taking them to Barnes & Noble to play with the choo choo trains. I ultimately decided on Barnes & Noble because I figured the grocery store would be a madhouse, and the boys do not like to sit in the cart for that long. (I get one of the race car carts – two can sit in the race car, one in the basket seat.)

Overall, it was a successful trip. Perhaps because of karma? See, back in 2002-3, I worked in the children’s department at Barnes & Noble. It was a really fun job, and I made some really good friends from my stint there. But dangit, I cleaned up enough mess from other peoples’ kids that it was time to bring my kids to make their own mess!

Thankfully, they didn’t really make a mess. When we got into the store, they were pretty overwhelmed by everything. There was a display of kids’ books at the front of the store and they definitely wanted to stop and look at those, but we made it back to the children’s department without incident. They all made a beeline for the bargain section (whew!) and all picked up the same Nemo book. And then I led them over to the stage where they all sat down and “read” their books. (Or tried to rip the CDs out of the back.)

Then they played with the choo choos for a bit, and then we made our way to the cafe for some milk and a scone. There were some tears at that point, but I let them sit in the chairs like big boys and that made them moderately happy. I only had to buy one copy of the Nemo book, too. Hurrah!

So yeah, a pretty good trip. Not without some tears, but at least they weren’t MY tears!