This has been another awesome shopping adventure day!
Mom, Aunt Leanne, and I all needed to skip Tai Chi this morning to have time to get ready, and go over to the Inn with Violet, Ethan, and Ehlana in time for the breakfast buffet. Dad and Uncle Adam saw us off, and then were planning on exercising by the river together before having breakfast at the Inn too once the shoppers had cleared out and hit the road. As usual, Jacob and Miranda were expecting a lot of the temporarily single men and boys in town to be doing that; and they were running the breakfast buffet until nine or ten o’clock.
The Inn was a bit more than half full once everyone going to the city had gotten there. Mom and Aunt Leanne only had about forty-five minutes to eat before they needed to be outside again; making sure that their drivers were matched up with all of their passengers, and that no kids were missed and left behind. Violet, Stephanie, Rowen, and I had the extra time while they were busy, and took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana fed, and then changed before putting them into their car seats when it was time to hit the road.
Mom and Aunt Leanne had Ethan, Ehlana, Rowen, and me with them in the minivan. Violet was taking Dad’s truck for the storage space, and she and Stephanie had Alicia and Erin with them for the drive each way. We were heading east toward the highway by five after eight along with the last few vehicles in the convoy – including Miranda’s and Patricia’s groups. We put one of Ethan’s and Ehlana’s favorite movies on, and while they mostly watched it, Rowen and I sat on the back bench seat and talked about what we wanted to look for, or needed to get, while we were shopping. We made good time getting to the Mall, and had time to get Ethan and Ehlana into their double stroller; go to the food court; and pick up drinks before Dawn, Jillian, and their Moms met up with us.
The hugs and kisses took a few minutes, especially for Violet and Aunt Melissa, but then we headed out into the Mall in search of this year’s coolest fashions and hottest sales – or possibly the reverse of that for the older girls. Violet and Stephanie were usually in the same general area with us all morning, but they were also either in other stores or other parts of the same stores from where Aunt Leanne and our Moms were looking for clothes for us. We had the largest group of shoppers with us, but Rebecca, Jenny, and their friends were mostly doing their own thing too with minimal intrusion from their Moms. Since Miranda and Emily were letting their girls mostly pick out their own clothes, they had time to shop for themselves, help Mom and Aunt Leanne out with Ethan and Ehlana, and play dress-up with us. For some reason, having our teacher help with our back-to-school wardrobe seems weird, but Rowen and I really love Miranda and Emily a lot; and we all had a lot of fun spending the day together.
Patricia and Sylvia Bassett were with us too, and while we were almost always in stores where they could shop for Jessica and Sophia, they also needed to juggle that with shopping for Patrick, Scott, and Ryan Bassett while trying to keep the three boys entertained too. Yes, that probably was an impossible mission, but they did their best; and we’re fairly sure that both Moms got home tonight with their sanity intact.
We shopped until noon; stopped for lunch and a trip to the parking lot to drop off bags; and then went back out into the Mall until three-thirty. There was an afternoon break while Mom and Aunt Leanne checked in with the rest of the groups, and then more than half of our shoppers moved over to Wal-Mart for another couple of hours of mostly supply shopping. Rowen and I had a little free time while we were there that we mostly spent picking up some gifts for upcoming friend and classmate birthdays; since this would likely be our last trip to the city for a couple of months. I didn’t find an anniversary gift for Mom and Dad, but I can always order something online and have it delivered to Aunt Leanne. We had the rest of that shopping done, and a few supplies picked up for ourselves, by the time we needed to meet up with Mom and Aunt Leanne again; and then we were another half hour getting out of the store and in the van again.
A fast food stop was the last thing we needed to get done before getting on the highway for home, and an hour and a half later we were home and wrapping up our shopping adventure with a little blast through Palmer’s Ladies Wear and Taylor’s shoes before going home. I still think it’s very funny that one of Abby’s biggest sales days now happens on days when so many of the girls in town aren’t even here. She probably wishes that we’d do more of these big trips, but then the novelty of her thanks for not going on the shopping trip to the city sales would likely wear off if we did that.
Violet had some extra deliveries to make, so she and Stephanie took care of that after dropping Alicia and Erin off at Alicia’s house. Stephanie’s house was the last stop, and by the time Violet got to our house, we had the van unloaded, and a small crew available to help unload the rest of the truck. Rowen had gone home to help her Mom by then, and once the truck was unloaded; Uncle Adam took Aunt Leanne home while Mom, Dad, and I were busy getting Ethan and Ehlana ready for bed and Violet was hanging out with Dillon.
I came up to my room after Ethan and Ehlana were tucked in, and put all of my new clothes away in drawers or the closet before getting changed and into bed with Mandy. It’s been a long day, and I’ll guess that this is what shop ‘til you drop feels like. We have two weeks left of summer holidays, and a lot of fun to fit into those fourteen days; but right now, all I’m interested in doing is sleeping, so...
...live from Witch Falls; this is Cassie Proctor, signing off!
