The Mall workout.

Nancy, Doug and the kids went to Portland today to attend the wedding of Doug's cousin so Nancy and I went to the mall yesterday to get some accessories for her outfit.  I wanted to go to the gym afterward so I threw on my exercise clothes and a sweatshirt and got in the minivan.  My plan was to get in a workout at 24 Hour Fitness.  Well, as things worked out, I got my workout but I didn't have to go to the gym.  Here's the story.

The plan was to go to Forever 21 to buy a wide black belt and then to look for a shrug or cardigan and some shoes. The quick trip to Forever 21 turned into an ordeal.  As Nancy tried on belts and some other clothes, I had to watch Finnegan and Elijah.  At least Elijah was quiet and strapped into a stroller.  Finnegan, on the other hand, decided to run around the store, hide underneath the clothing racks, touch all the clothes, and elude capture.  He had a grant old time. Of course, I had to keep an eye on Elijah, as well, so wandering all over looking for Finnegan wasn't easy.  Finally, Nancy came out of the dressing room and I tried something on.  Later while we were standing in line to pay for Nancy's items, she thought she'd give Finnegan a snack to calm him down.  She gave him a gooey chocolate mini-pretzel that he ate underneath a rack of clothes.  I pulled him out from underneath the clothes and told Nancy to wipe off Finnegan's hands before he wiped them on something expensive. She remarked that his hands were pretty clean which meant that I hadn't been hallucinating when I thought I saw him wipe them on a white and black blouse.  I turned to look at the blouse in question and saw it swinging on the rack.  I said nothing and tried to hustle us all out of the store before a store employee discovered the sticky deed.

We walked around and looked at shoes in other shops as Finnegan ran wild.  I had to keep running after him and grabbing him.  He loved that. I so regretted that he had taken off the leash he had attached to his pants earlier in the day while he was playing a wild tiger. 

My sister finally succumbed to Finnegan's whinings to eat as we passed the very aromatic Cinnabon and a giant pretzel shop.  Nancy opted for Pretzels and we loaded up.  Thank goodness that mall has sitting areas with real sofas and lounge chairs.  Finnegan pitched a fit because he had wanted a roll not a soft pretzel but Nancy finally managed to convince him that they were the same so he sat down and started eating it.  She left us to go look at some shoes.  I happily scarfed down the pretzel and got some much needed rest from chasing after Finnegan.  Then I got a really good laugh when I realized that Finnegan was wearing his shoes on the wrong feet. I didn't say anything but laughed quietly to myself.

After eating and resting, Nancy spotted the kiddy carts rental area that would make our experience more manageable.  For an exorbitant $5 we could rent the little red cart that would keep Finnegan strapped in for the rest of our shopping trip.  I forked over $4 and Nancy put the last quarters in and away we went.  We almost panicked when we thought that we didn't have enough money. The only one who got to rest up was Finnegan.  I had to push him around for another hour, which wasn't easy on carpeted floors. 

We decided to go to JCPenney to buy some really pretty recycled material shopping bags for $2 each.  As we were in the store, I noticed Finnegan's shoe problem again and very stupidly mentioned out loud that we should switch them. So I removed them and tried to get him to put them on the proper feet.  No such luck.  He left them on the floor of his car and we kept on moving.  I said that they might fall out then forgot about it as we moved about the shopping center.  After racing through more shops and finally getting to Nordstrom I did a shoe check. Oh no, one was missing.  So we backtracked through the mall and Nancy found the errant loafer at the entrance of Express.  Thank goodness no one had picked it up.  People with small children must have seen it and known to leave it where it lay. I finally had the sense to put both of the shoes in the car's basket.

Later we went back to Nordstrom to look at shoes and accessories.  Nancy spotted some beautiful $200 shoes and picked them up.  A salesman asked if he could bring out her size but she declined.  Later, Nancy said that he probably had flipped a coin with another salesman to see who would go talk to us, given the fact that we probably couldn't afford it with all the kids we had and how haggard we looked.  Then I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the full length mirrors and gasped.

While in Forever 21 Finnegan kept grabbing bunches of necklaces in his hands, which frightened me.  However, nothing is more frightening than being at Nordstrom and seeing a $78 pricetag on each of 20 necklaces that a 3-year-old is grasping.  After very carefully negotiating the release of the shiny, pretty hostages, I pushed Finnegan out of the store and at least a mile back to the cart rental area.   Cost of belt, pretzels and lemonade at the mall: $30.  Kiddy car rental: Priceless.

After disagreeing with Nancy over where we had parked the car, she strolled Elijah in one direction and I threw Finnegan over my shoulder and took off toward the other end.  As Finnegan asked why his Mommy was going in a different direction, I spotted the store near where we'd parked and told him that she was wrong.  Finnegan spotted the van so we waited there for Nancy.  She got really mad when she noticed a big red dent in the gas tank cover. Then as she was carefully inspecting the rest of the vehicle for damage, she realized that the van wasn't even hers.  The real minivan was over another row. 

After Elijah and Finnegan were strapped into their seats and we had pulled out onto the freeway, I told Nancy that I didn't need to go to the gym anymore.  I had gotten my workout.