Brave or Crazy, you decide, part one.....

Because I am the best big sister in the whole ENTIRE world, I traveled from my home in Utah to be with Arianne in Portland, post baby, and make sure she landed on her feet. (Truth be told, it was less about being a good sister, and more about avoiding be cursed by my mother...., ok not really, because I do love Arianne as if she was my own daughter, but the added side benefit is avoiding being cursed by my mother....)


Part of my job was to entertain Kallie so Arianne could bond with her new baby and get a little rest. Well the perfect person to aid in the entertainment of Kallie, is of course Katie.


I have to say Katie was a trooper in the car. We broke the trip down into two days, spending the first night in Idaho with Grandma Loretta.


One of the first orders of business was to go to the grocery store and obtain food, because in addition to entertaining Kallie, I needed to provide nourishing food for Arianne. I was feeling particularly brave and decided to venture to Albertsons with both two year olds.


Now you have to understand for both of these girls when they go to the grocery store, they are required to sit in the front of the cart, its all about containment of a two year old. However because we were no longer in Utah county, home of grocery carts that seat many a child, there was only one seat and two girls. This meant those girls were free range....and free range they were.....


We started out in the produce section, not necessarily by choice, but simply because it was closest to where we walked in. The freedom was a little much for them to handle. They were running around the produce section, tossing random fruits and vegetables into my cart, basically anything below 36 inches in height that they could get their hands on. Meanwhile I am trying to restock the produce section with items from my cart, while obtaining the items I actually needed.


At one point while I was mulling over bananas, the cart was commandeered from my side by the girls, and driven right into the bakery section, specifically right into a bakery display, knocking over sweet and delicious products, with a loud bang. Ummmm.....lets just say the experience did not get any better after that and ended with Kallie chasing Katie in the cereal isle, which resulted in Kallie falling and hit her head.....I do believe I have been banned from the Albersons located on Wilsonville Road, in Wilsonville Oregon.


For the record I want it to be know by shoppers in the store that day, just come to Utah county and go to the grocery store, you will see our behavior was really not THAT bad! And to Albertsons, come to Utah county and you will understand how to kid proof your store, I hold you partially to blame, after all don't you understand all the attractive nuisances you create for two year olds???? (That a legal term you know, go ask your corporate counsel)



After our experience at the grocery store I decided the next day's activity needed to be more kid friendly, and much more contained, the kids play area at the mall. I told Arianne as we left that I expected to be gone for a while, because I was going to let those girls run wild until they begged to come home....

Here we are crossing the bridge.


Katie would climb up on the top of the frog and shout, "All aboard!" Humm maybe a little too much Thomas the Tank Engine in her life?

Hugging the frog is also good.

After about an hour and 15 minutes those girls decided they had enough of the kids play area and we treated ourselves to a cookie at Mrs. Fields. Now here is where the story gets a little dicey.....you see this mall had a Macy's.....I can't go to the mall, and NOT visit the Macy's, especially a Macy's I have never been too.....so with the promise of riding the escalator I took the girls into Macy's....

We first went to the hosiery department, for I am in search of these really cool steel gray tights I saw on a mannequin in the Macy's in Boise....I have yet to locate them, but trust me I will. In order to get to the hosiery department we had to pass through lingerie. Kallie saw a mannequin in that Department and insisted that it was her mother. As a mom isn't it nice to know that your two year old thinks your skinny with long blond hair, especially after just having a baby!

Next it was on to women's wear, where I was quickly scanning the clearance racks while trying to keep track of the girls. At one point they had gotten up on the platform where the mannequins were and were singing and dancing "Single Ladies." Yep, now two stores in Oregon in which we are no longer welcome.....seriously Macy's get a grip it was only mannequins.....