Shopping for Father's Day

Yesterday I realized that Father's Day is Sunday. In the midst of my weekly running around on top of the local Carnival/Festival that is in town, I needed to figure this out. And the kids are at that irritating stage where they completely get and acknowledge the appreciation for Father's Day (and Labor Day, and Veterans Day, and Cinco De Mayo, and basically any other day that might be a reason to celebrate anything) but they are completely incapable of doing anything to prepare for themselves. So off we went to Boise.

We started the day at Gymnastics. I think I may have mentioned that Cameron is "trying" gymnastics at a gym in Boise this summer. She is loving it. I am loving it. The boys, however, are not loving entertaining themselves in a gym where they can't run and do sumersaults for an hour.

After that hour of "fun", we headed on up the road to the Boise Mall. A place that used to be held dearly in my heart as somewhere to go and something to do for an entire day. Somewhere that included leisure. Somewhere that included shopping for myself. Buying new clothes. Trying new styles. Now, this is one of the seven levels of Hell for a parent. Nothing fits, I realize each and every time that I am old. And everything is four times the price that it seems it should be. But, alas, Daddy needed some new cargo shorts and Mommy forgot to online shop.

We circulated the parking lot looking for somewhere close enough for an emergency run to the car. All the while, giving the lecture about how they are going to walk beside me the entire time, not ask for everything in sight, not fight, use manners, and for the love of God, please use the bathroom as SOON as we get in the door so we can get this shopping excursion finished in a short amount of time. There may have been bribes of ice cream.

Right.

First stop, the bathrooms. Of course, they all have to go try it out, check out the decor, make sure that it is the same as every other bathroom they have ever seen. But, because it was convenient and planned, Tucker did not have to go. On to the Food Court to attempt lunch.

All the options in the world and the kids still choose a Happy Meal. Fine. Two more obnoxious Kung Fu Panda Toys to carry in my purse, both of which include 4 pieces. 8 plastic toy pieces floating aimlessly in my purse. Awesome. Thanks McDonalds!

After answering the question, No, you may not bring your fries and ketchup shopping, We stop at Payless Shoes. They each ask for a tacky trash backpack. I say no. They each ask for ugly plastic shoes. I say no. Remember the whole lecture about not asking for everything they see? Yeah, they didn't either.

Into the Icing jewelry shop. Cameron decides for the 15th time that she is ready to get her ears pierced. She sits in the chair, gets the spill from the young girl, can't make up her mind. I threaten her with her life that if she makes the choice to do this, she's going to do it NO MATTER WHAT because I'm not paying out $35 again and walking out with no earrings. Yes, thanks Claires! For making your earrings sterile to the point that once the seal is cracked on your studs, you can't re use them again. And yet, you have to pay for them regardless. Thanks for that. I carry a pair of gold studs around in my purse just as a reminder of why I don't let her try to get her ears pierced every time we go to Boise. Hope they are still in style when she does finally get hers pierced, because she's gonna wear them if it's the last thing I do.

So then all the parents are watching what they thought was going to be a cute girl getting her ears pierced for the first time end up being her Mother going ballistic on her for making her pay out $35 and no piercings. Cameron starts crying because she just can't decide if it's going to hurt. She swears she wants them, but doesn't want them. So we decide to wait. This time until we are 16. Fine by me. On we go.

A few t-shirts, a few pairs of shorts. A few coffee mugs for the Grandpa's at Hallmark. And we are out. Tucker only hid behind every rack of clothes and was adamant that we buy Sexy Logger a Mario T-Shirt in a size XXL. I'm not sure how that would have went over. Brody of course wouldn't ride in the stroller, so I carried him, Tucker pushed Cameron around, which was ridiculous, but it worked.

On down the road to the Sportsman's Warehouse. $33 worth of lures later, we were out. I pretty much just tell the kids to pick out three each that look like they are lucky. Cameron's choice was a metallic pink sword fish looking thing. Pretty sure it's for salt water ocean fishing. But hey, it's Father's Day! Maybe it'll be the lure that wins the next tournament, which is not in a Salt Water area.

On for ice cream for the kiddos and a LARGE Diet Pepsi for Mom. Stressful and I felt like I was running a marathon. But, we got it accomplished with little to no failures. Success.

On to the Carnival Friday.