I got up early, got ready, tried to let the girls sleep as long as possible, but finally had to wake them up. One of these days I need to videotape me waking them up to go to Grandma's. I'll start to wake them up, and they'll barely respond... but then if I say, "You want to go to Grandma's?" They say, "Grandma's?" and they stumble out of bed... :-p
So, we kind of ran out of the house... I even forgot to get them sippy cups, which I was a little worried about, but I just put on WALL-E on the DVD player and they were happy during the drive :-p So, I just went ahead and dropped Dave off and made it to his Mom's house as soon as I could. I did have to stop off at a McDonald's to use the restroom... and the only reason I mention this is because, I always hate using someone's bathroom without buying anything, but at that point, we were just so close to getting to Grandma's, this one time, I just wanted to use the bathroom and leave. And, for the first time, I actually had someone behind the counter say in a very disapproving tone of voice, as I was passing by: "Can I help you?" I just smiled and tried to look apologetic... but geez... I haven't spent enough money at McDonald's over the years, I can't use the bathroom once without buying something else? :-p
ANYWAY, we got to Grandma's and had a big breakfast... at least I did anyway :-p The girls ate and drank some, but they just tend to eat the most in the middle of the day. I gotta get out of the habit of eating the leftovers off the girls' plates, though. From a very early age, the concept of not wasting food has just been so ingrained in me, it's something I have to really struggle with... and I didn't really have dinner the night before so I was really hungry, and just kind of went to town :-p I just keep trying to tell myself, "Would you rather waste that little bit of food, or waste your body, your youth, etc." Sometimes it works... just not yesterday :-p
So, then my MIL asked if I wanted to run to Costco with her... I knew I had a lot of time to kill today so I said, "Sure." Of course, that involved putting her extra car seats in her car, which I always dread... car seats are the bane of my existence :-p But, they actually went in pretty easy this time... I think because I spent so much time the last time, when I had to put them in her car, straightening out all the straps and everything....
So, we go and, I know I looked silly, but I just had to take this picture:
They were all double carts! I'm always lucky if I can find one double cart, but look at this... it's like Twin Paradise! :-p I'd never been in a Costco before.... I've been in places like BJ's and such, but are all Costco's like this? There's not one near us, and I kind of hate places like this anyway... I know buying in bulk is supposed to save money, but I always seemed to spend more money shopping in these places :-p Any place that stacks I-pods like they stack cartons of orange juice or boxes of cereal can't be good for your wallet :-p But, I just thought this was so cool... I know, I'm easily impressed :-p
So, by the time we get back, it was actually around noon (the morning just went so quick), so my MIL gave the girls some lunch and then I took the girls over to Marley Station. It was kind of weird walking in there... I remember when that Mall opened. My family and I went there so many times together (I know... I was a total geek... hanging out at the mall with my family? :-p) I also had some of my first dates at the movies there (including the first date with my husband... we saw the movie "True Romance")... after I graduated high school, my parents moved us over to an apartment complex across the street from there (where I eventually met my future husband :-p)... I worked at three different food places in the mall (Boardwalk Fries, Friendly's and Zack's Frozen Yogurt... the latter of which is apparently a Gold's Gym now, which is kinda funny :-p).
Also almost got into a car accident coming out of there once when my first boyfriend hydro-planed coming around a corner and we spun around, went up onto a curb and ended up spinning around on the grass, I think. I've never been in a REAL car accident... I've had a couple of people tap me from behind, when they were following too close, but that's it. However, that was one of the few close-calls I've had. Another one (where I actually was driving) was when I was on my way to deliver the seating charts for mine and Dave's wedding to the hotel, and someone ran a red light and almost smacked into me. Luckily, when I'm in situations like this, I get really calm and just do what I have to do to avoid an accident... I save my shaking and freaking out for later :-p
ANYWAY, so many memories... :-p
Back to Marley Station Mall, since migrating north from Anne Arundel County starting at about 20 years old, I haven't really been back. I think Dave and I might have caught a movie there once years ago, while we were in the area visiting his parents. And, I did take the girls there sometime before their second birthday. That's when I discovered the play area there (which used to just be a bunch of benches)... that last time it was absolutely mobbed and I was glad I had a lot of help that day wrangling the girls :-p But, while there were some kids there yesterday, it was totally manageable. I was pretty much able to just sit back and watch them play.
And play they did :-p I think we got there at about quarter to 1 and didn't leave until about quarter after 2. That did include a bathroom break and then I spent a few quarters in another part of the mall, where they had some ride-ons, including a little merry-go-round. But, especially after everything else we'd done that day, by the end of it, they were about ready to drop :-p Here are the few pictures I took while at the mall:
The other funny part about our trip to mall was that, when we walked in, I saw that they had the Easter Bunny set-up in the center court there. But, apparently it was break time, because I saw him in the glass elevator, about to go up to the second floor. I tried to point him out to the girls... I'm not sure Anna even saw him, but Josie was just staring. She followed his progress up the elevator and then, after he got out, saw him walking upstairs... she just had a look on her face like, "What IS that?" :-p I might have taken them over for some pictures, but after all the playing, they were exhausted... and I thought that we would still make it over to see the Bunny at Arundel Mills at some point.
Well, I took them back to my in-laws where they promptly went down for a nap... I got some time on the Wii Fit in. And then even before the girls woke up, Dave texted me. He wasn't ready to go, but the official business of the day was over and apparently he had a ton of free credit thingies for Dave and Buster's (where they were having their business get-together, training, whatever it was)... he not only had the ones that he had been given as part of this whole company thing, but a bunch of people who didn't want to stay had given him theirs, too :-p
So, I got the girls up... my mother-in-law gave them some apples and grapes in little baggies to take with them... which was good because, we did eventually have dinner, but it was a little late. We met up with Dave at Dave and Buster's and, we all just kind of went crazy with all the free credits we had :-p A lot of the games were geared towards adults or at least older kids... at one point, the girls were just dying to play a racing game, but they all involved having to use foot pedals, so I finally let them drive and I just got down on the floor and pushed down on both of the pedals for them (another example of the life of a Twin Mom :-p). Here are some pics:
We ended up with over 2600 tickets :-p So, we went in to their little prize store, and picked out some teddy bears (Josie, of course, picked purple... she just loves purple... Anna picked green, much to Dave's chagrin, since he liked the orange bear :-p), a couple of little wind-up dinosaurs, and then just spent the rest in jelly beans :-p
I ended up just getting some McDonald's for dinner, for me and the girls, on the way home... I also picked up a couple of burgers for Ryan and Dawn since, I knew they had probably already eaten, but hey, it's McDonald's (although Dave wasn't hungry... they fed him enough during their "meeting" :-p) I know, I just defeated my whole Wii Fit workout, but I was too tired for fixing dinner at that point. Of course, I probably should have... especially since I just ended up getting really stressed out by the end of it. I tried getting everything in by myself, but I just ended up dropping my fries and part of the sodas everywhere out in the parking lot. I finally ended up calling inside and got Ryan to come out and help me with stuff (which I should have just done in the first place). I think the thing that really got me upset, though, is when I got upset after dropping the fries and soda, Josie said, "Mommy's really mad!" Well, talk about making me feel guilty... ugghh, I felt like crying. But, I calmed down... I guess I was just feeling grumpy after a long day of fooling around :-p I just needed a nice long nap... so I could bore all of you with this super-long post the next morning :-p
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