I Said I Would!

In an effort to stick with my goal, I am writing. Doesn't matter that technically it's tommorrow already. My day has not ended yet, so in my book it's still today. But take heed before reading further, I have been up since the ungodly hour of 6:30, out ALL day with Benny, more or less on my own. Driving for a good portion of the day too. So words may sound good to me but not make any sense at all. Like I said before, take heed.

To repeat, 6:30 am - that was me grumbling as I made my way around the house. Got myself dressed. Got Benny to eat his cereal and get dressed. Packed enough food to go on vacation for a week. Packed enough diapers for two. Lugged everything to the car. Went to my father's house to steal his GPS and found his recycling strewn all over the neighbor's lawn, thanks to last night's storm. Being the dutiful daughter I am, picked up said recycling, all wet and gross. Got filthy. Didn't have time to go home to change. Touched bases with the Slaters. Started my road trip. Realized I forgot to stop for coffee. Poop. (Not the action word, that's raw emotion people!)

The good part started around 9:30. That's when I strapped Benny in to the stroller (which I lugged to the car this morning) and made my way into the Lands End Warehouse Clearance Event for the shopping expedition of a lifetime. They hand you a 35 gallon garbage bag when you walk in. That's your shopping cart. The place was HUGE! Filled from wall to wall with pure amazingness. I'm talking long denim skirts for $5, rain boots for $7, mens pants for $7.50, super fluffy fleece sweaters for $6. Let's put it this way - my one fully stuffed bag and half of another came out to $95. I'm pretty sure I got good deals! :) I didn't even try things on - at these prices, I know I can find someone to buy the stuff from me if it doesn't work! Imagine the lines. They were advising people to put their bags on hold by customer service, go get something to eat, and come back to try things on. The checkout line was about 20-25 minutes long. Doable. When you don't have a kid ready to shoot you and everyone around you. I did it anyway. Oh, by the way, thank you to that little girl who kept handing Benny the things I was busy taking away from him. I'm going to mail you a really large box of junk food. Don't eat it until Mom tells you it's time for bed!!

The best part about the sale was doing it with the Slaters! Benny and Moshe Alex took full advantage of mommies freely giving them lollipops (definitely sure Benny finished most of the bag himself, in M.A.'s defense!) But they also had an awesome time when we let them run free in the playground!

From there, we continued on to Madison, about an hour past Dodgeville. My father's flight wasn't coming in until late in the evening but I had a fun day planned for me and Mr. B. We went straight to the Henry Vilas Zoo, a volunteer-run zoo with free entrance. Don't let that fool you into thinking it was a dinky little place. This place honestly rocked! There were a ton of great exhibits, although there were quite a few that were closed temporarily. There was a goat feeding station, a walk through 'Discover the Primates' exhibit with great views of the different monkeys, and my favorite part of all - the kiddie area. A ride on train, an amazing playground, and Benny's favorite - the carousel. He chose the tiger to sit on. When the ride started, his eyes went wide in amazement. "Mommy, the tiger is flying!" And every time we passed the guy running the thing, he waved and yelled that to him. When we walked off, the guy shook Benny's hand and said, "Come back soon!" Benny took that very literally. He turned to me and asked, "Mommy, Benny come back soon???" We went again. This time it took a few tries until he found the perfect animal to sit on! We started on the elephant, moved to the giraffe, and ended up on the cheetah. He was ecstatic! Wanted to go again. I literally had to shove him back into his stroller, kicking and screaming. He was, that is. I just wanted the Earth to swallow me up. 

We continued our day with a trip to Barnes and Noble, or is it Nobles? I can never remember! Anyway, we love their train tables they have set up. Benny was there for about an hour. Saw many other kids come and go. All taller than him. Not necessarily older than him. He was very reluctant to leave there as well, but we had places to go and things to do! 

Went to the mall, had to pick up a couple things. Got him the neatest little beanie at Gap. As I described it to my sister, it's 'very Park Slopey.' That slouchy beanie style that just gives off an 'I'm way too cool' kinda vibe. He's way too cool.

At that point, we headed over to the airport to find out that El Padre was delayed. Still in Chicago, in fact, so, very delayed! We worked our way over to Old Navy, got me some boring, same-as-every-summer-but-super-comfortable tshirts. Continued on to Target, got Benny a Harold the Helicopter to go with his train sets in honor of his (mostly) good behavior thus far. Headed back to the airport to wait for the big arrival.

Had we waited, Benny would not have his nifty little helicopter. We'll just put it that way. To say that he wasn't happy the entire way home is an understatement, and a gross one at that. Can't say for sure what all the screaming was about, only understood bits and pieces, such as "NO MORE MOMMY'S CAR!!!!" and "I want my shoes OFF! NO! I want them ON! NO! I want them OFF!" Put that math symbol that means repeat over that screamtance (that's my new word, by the way, it's how Benny's sentences come out) and you get a pretty good understanding of where I'm going with this. 

We stopped at WalMart for a bit, diaper change was needed (don't worry, he pulled the 'I want to go on the toilet Mommy' line MANY times in the car!) and a little less energy sounded great. Took us half an hour to get him back in the car. Many times of me asking, "Benny, you ready to head home yet?" To which he politely responded, "Not yet, Mommy."

To make a long story even longer, I got home at about 12:30. Unloaded EVERYTHING from the car, let Shuky get the sleeping Benny (FINALLY!!) and came straight to my safe place - this computer :)

And now, I must peel my contacts out of my eyes, (hopefully my pupils will stay put!) and go to sleep. Tomorrow, we load the truck, even though I'm not done packing yet! Eep! Wish us luck!!!