Generally speaking I do not take my kids out grocery shopping, clothes shopping, pretty much any kind of shopping unless it is super short and swift. We don't go out to eat with the kids either. Why punish ourselves and pay for a meal that we can't leisurely enjoy in peace? Thus our outings are short and sweet.
Today we were invited to meet friends at Costco for lunch. Sounds fun right? Instantly I had visions of seas of snow birds, 3 hungry children who were perilously close to nap time, tantrums, craziness, mayhem. Yes, I always see the worst case scenario, why do you ask? :) I told my friend Julie that she was brave and I would be brave with her. Eeeep! I can be brave, right? Right?!
We pulled up to Costco and it was slammed. The parking lot was totally maxed out and I was feeling trepidation. Costco, at lunch time, in December... I found a close parking space (woohoo!), unloaded three kids and linked hands so no one got ran over. The kids were excited to eat pizza with Owen and we found our friends and boxed the kids in with the mammoth carts. I bought us slices of cheese pizza and we shared a very berry smoothie. We ate, talked and survived. Whew! No grand scenes of embarrassment. I told Julie it either goes wonderfully or horribly wrong. And I am grateful that today my parenting skills weren't put on display for all the onlooking blue hairs.
Our 30 minute outing was a success and as the seven of us walked out an older gentleman remarked that there must have been a sale on kids. Haha! I said, "Yes! Buy one get one! Where are yours?". He laughed right back and said, no thank you!
Thank you Julie for the invite and through this gentle reminder that all is not doom and gloom. I don't know why I tend to think of the worst and shy away from such challenges. Well, actually I do know why, because that isn't really my idea of a good time, but with practice we can get there.
3 comments:
I'm sure your outings with three kids will get easier! When they get a little bit older and don't need naps to not be grumpfaces life is slightly less frazzled. Just slightly. I know I take three kids with me almost every where I go, but mine are A LOT more spread out in age than yours, and I often have those moments when I'm in line at the store and they are driving me CRAZY and I wonder why I brought them all along. Except Witten, he's still nice and sleeps in public. Good job though, I'm glad you had an incident free trip to remind you things can go right!
That picture has given me the sudden urge to nibble on Rhett's cheeks. He's so stinkin' cute!
I was laughing out loud at this post! I love your writing Heather!
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