14 July 2006

Wild and Crazy Day

Well, not so much crazy as just scattered. Since our current apartment will be vacant in September, we have been periodically getting notices that the management company will be showing it. Not that I care whether the apartment gets rented or not, but it is just so much easier for us to be out of the house and not have to deal with it. So to escape an 11:00 am showing and also to just get out after being cooped up for laundry day, we headed out into the big world.

First stop was the library branch nearest where we live. I had holds on a couple of movies for Bug and several books for me that needed to be picked up. Bug loves playing with the trains and looking at books, so he was excited to go. However, shortly after getting the holds picked up and checked out, Bean decided to go into full-body tantrum mode (i.e., go limp, flop on the floor, and scream at the top of her lungs. It's quite impressive. Really.), so we checked out a couple of books for Bug and beat a hasty retreat. The librarian gave both kids stamps on their hands so at least they weren't screaming the whole time I was checking out!

Since we still had plenty of time to kill and the only other necessary errand was groceries (gotta do that one last!), we headed next to Keys park. When we got there, two buses full of Y-campers were running around and it was packed, but we stayed anyway for close to an hour. Mom couldn't last any longer. Even though it was still early (around 11:00), it was already in the mid to high 80's and humid (dew points have been in the 70's. Ick.). Since I was sweating like a pig feeling warmish and getting cranky, I decided that I had earned a frozen coffee-containing something.

Next stop, the 'Bou. We shared some frozen frou-frou coffee drinks and enjoyed the air conditioning. Someone had dropped a good portion of a blueberry muffin just outside the door. One of the employees swept up most of the crumbs and then carried out a couple of paper cups full of water to try and rinse the smooshed blueberries off the sidewalk. Talk about the neatest thing Bug had every seen! He even got to help dump one of the cups of water. We also read one of Bug's library books and I got a few pages read in one of my books before Bean was getting bored and climbing the walls.

When we went out to the van, there was a crane parked behind us getting ready to install the sign on the store between Caribou and Qdoba. While I could have gingerly inched out of the parking space and gotten around the crane, Bug was fascinated, so we sat in the van and watched them unstrap the sign, hook up the crane, swing the sign over to the sidewalk, and then lift it up and start to get it fastened. We probably watched for 45 minutes. Since it was STILL HOT and the lot was very crowded over the lunch hour, we snuck out when the car next to us left, giving me more space to maneuver out without embarrassing myself.

Finally, a quick run through the grocery store since it was now one-ish and the littles were getting tired and crabby, followed by scooting home for naps (after the requisite doughnut in the parking lot).

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't outings fun? That's not a rhetorical question, 'cause they really are fun, with some exceptions...one such exception being a "full-body tantrum." Where did Bean come up with the same exact action as Bug? He must be teaching her these things (i.e., whispering in her ear) when you're not looking!! :0) (Sorry, I don't have access to the cute emoticons that you use.)

Your stop at the 'Bou makes me really hungry for a frozen frou-frou coffee drink. The last time we had a coffee at Borders (Seattle's Best!), they were passing out small samples of a brand new cold coffee-mocha drink containing cookie crumbles, whipped topping, and the whole nine yards. It was to die for...