I had some out of town errands to do (Lisbon Falls, Freeport, and Falmouth), so at naptime I bundled the kids in the car, and off we went. First was my chiropractor appointment. I was not so sure how that would go with the kids along for the ride, but I was pleasantly surprised that the office was still standing when we left. Jude did accidentally raise and lower the table a couple of times, startling the chiropractor pretty good. Then we had to put back together about 10 (not exaggerating!) little puzzles Destructo Boy tore apart, all some sort of farm theme that got mixed together, so that was fun.
Then off to deliver the sewing I finished recently:
My delivery was in Falmouth, and the kids were good as gold sitting in the car while I ran everything inside, never whining a bit about how long I was taking.
Off to Freeport!
I got John a thermos at LL Bean a few years ago, and it had completely fallen apart over the last couple months. Come to find out, they have completely discontinued that model . . . wonder why? I made a few half-hearted and very last minute attempts to get friends to come meet up with us at the Bean, but naturally no one could on short notice at 4 p.m. Guess the kids and I would have to make do.
And I was surprised for the second time that afternoon when we got to LL Bean and proceeded to have a fabulous time, just me and the kids! We checked out the fish (Jude-running-away-while-Sissy-sort-of-checks-out-the-fish-from-a-distance-because-they-are-scary.), and all the dead stuffed animals, and cute little never-alive stuffed animals (Jude's fav!), and the little house in the kid's area, and The Boot (we were last at The Boot with a friend last fall, so Sophia kept asking if Jen May was coming) . . . and had a BLAST!
Yes, I bribed Jude with clementines. Gotta do what works.
Jude was happy like pigs in mud when we found the canoe full of stuffed animals. He couldn't figure out which two to hold at a time, and kept dashing around grabbing new ones.
Sophia was absolutely enthralled by the bear.
Jude had occasional little freak outs because he wanted to be out of the stroller to bolt away with a wicked chortle, but they were short-lived freak outs, nothing too unbearable. And Sophia? Angelic! She held on to the stroller whenever we were on the go, and invented a new game when we were walking outside. I let her go ahead a little bit on the sidewalk, and then she told me to call out "Stop" or "Go," a la Mother May I. By the end of our walk we had added in "Dance" and "Jump," too, and that girl has got moves, with or without music!
By the time we finished up at the Bean, it was 5:30, and I had used up the snack stash hours before. I knew melt-down city was coming if we waited dinner until we got home and then took the time to whip something up. So to round out the adventure we headed to Wendy's for Happy Meals, and that was the perfect cherry on top for our outing. Jude was much more enamored with his chocolate milk and licking his fries than actually eating his burger, but Sophia loved the whole thing. You'd have thought I brought her out to some fancy restaurant with how in awe she was of the experience.
The kids each got an "I Spy" game with their meal, but as that sort of thing is way over Jude's head Sophia got to keep them both. She kept saying "Thank you for my presents, Mama! Thanks for bringing us here for dinner!"
A lovely day, and a great adventure. No orange groves needed here! (Though an orange grove would be super fantastic.)
1 comment:
OH I MISS LLBEAN! Jealous of your spontaneous outing! And we totally would have met you at the bean at 4pm.
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