Another day of rain and a to do list that consisted of taking our tax info to our guy and getting Stella some shoes. While they are cute, her black patent Mary Jane's aren't exactly suitable for the rain/cold weather we've been having. Our tax fella is in the University area, so I got a wild hair to try something I've never done before.
Concord Mills.
It's everything I hate. Getting on 85. Random people, wandering aimlessly. Flourescent lights that seem to suck out the tiny shred of what's left in my brain that helps me think clearly. Public bathrooms. Food Courts that have three options: meat, grease, or meat and grease. And discount prices, that really aren't.
But I thought, hey, we're out that way. I've never been. I heard they have a Gymboree and The Children's Place outlet. It's a rainy day. Let's give it a try.
My mind was immediately spinning, or swimmyheaded (as my Grandma would say), as soon as we walked into the first bright, loud store. Next thing I knew we'd been there for two and a half hours. What happened in that time is a bit of a blur.
The shoe hunt was a bust. I chased Stella around The Children's Place, shoving various shoes on her foot. None of them worked. Meanwhile Heath settled in on a pair of pink Croc-like shoes. They didn't have any in his size. (That is the story I am sticking to. And it's the same story for the Dora sneakers he spotted in The Rack Room.)
At some point Heath needed to go to the potty. Instead of telling me, he just pulled his pants and Batman unders down, right in front of the Nike Factory store. I managed to catch him in time and scooted us off to the nearest restroom where Stella put her hand in one of the toilets while it was in use by Heath.
I decided some of the mall fog could be lifted if we had something to eat. Fortunately, Starbucks was an option. Heath did a nice job of drinking most of my Orange Mango Banana smoothie, while I interrupted Stella's project of destroying the Valentine's table display too many times to count. Everytime I would swoop in for a bite of her Blueberry scone she would hold it above her head with both hands and say, No, no, no, no, no, no. And Michelle Shocked's Anchorage was playing and I started to have a mini-flashback to being in high school.
Now, what I didn't know about Concord Mills is that it's also a mini-amusement park inside. Ride-on toys. A carousel. A train that takes you for a spin around the entire mall (for $3 per person. Something I didn't know until we were settled inside the little red caboose. I had two dollars. The teenaged boy, who oddly enough wasn't in school on a Friday at noon, was happy to point me in the direction of the nearest ATM.). Multiple arcades. The arcades are a huge hit with Heath and Stella. Sitting in a race car and pushing buttons is fun enough, I don't even have to plunk in the quarters. (I'm sure they will wise-up to that soon enough.)
Finally, at 2 o'clock we manage to almost get out of there. We have to walk back through The Children's Place and at this point they both decide it's time to explode with sleepiness. Heath is insisting that he needs a pair of fleece Christmas footie pajamas. Sure, they're $2.99, but they're also sized 0-3 months. I tell him no and he starts chasing after me, waving the red baby pjs. I need these, I need these. Stella has decided to go boneless on me while I'm trying to get her back into the stroller, and she's screaming, her body oozing out of her seat. I lean in to get her buckled and she grabs onto a fistful of my hair.
After a soggy dash to the car, I miss the ramp to 85 South. U-turns are completely unavailable. I finally turn around. Expecting the turn for 85 South to be on my left, it isn't. I miss it. Again.
And they completely surprise me by not passing out in their car seats immediately. The rain and the trucks and the near-hydroplaning was too exciting.
Still, no shoes. I'm thinking I would've had better luck had we just gone to the Target 10 minutes from our house. But we would've missed all that fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment