An hour of my life..

I had to pick up a couple things at Sam's Club the other day and there was no way I could do it without taking all three kids. After getting all 3 kids dressed and loaded up in the van we headed out on our adventure. Just for comparison, if I had done this errand alone it would have taken me about 15 min. from out of car to back in it!

We pulled into the parking lot at 3 pm. I tried parking close to where the shopping carts are, but no luck. So I opened the van side door on the driver's side, reached over and unbuckled Alexa from the other side of the back seat, then quickly unbuckled Tristan so I could grab Alexa before she climbed into the front seat. You may be asking why I didn't get Tristan out and walk around to Alexa's side to get her out. Well, it takes 2 hands to undo the car seat, and that would leave Tristan untethered in the parking lot. I have tried to have Hunter hold his hand, but that causes and argument from Tristan, so that doesn't work out so well.

So now we are all out of the car and heading toward the nearest shopping cart. I am holding each of the twins hands and Hunter is holding onto my shirt just behind Tristan. My purse is sliding off my shoulder, but other then the risk of hitting one of the kids in the head, I don't care, my goal is to get them in a cart ASAP! Fortunately this Sam's club is being upgraded and they just got new carts.. they have them set up to hold 2 toddlers in front, or 1. Most places don't have them like that. The only option then is the big "car" shopping carts where most of the safety belts are broken and they try to climb out! In a real pinch they have to sit where the groceries are supposed to go, and the groceries go where the seat for 1 child is.

Finally they are buckled in and we are on our way into the store! Then I realize I left my Sam's card in the car from when I got gas.. back to the car and then back to the store! We make 2 pauses/stops where they have the movies because Hunter is looking for Superman, so I remind him it is at the theaters, not on DVD, and we head back to where the dog food is (at the back of the store). Now is when Hunter informs me he has to go to the bathroom... BAD! So we head back to the front of the store to the restroom. I have to unload the twins, set my cart aside and take all three into the restroom. I let the twins wash their hands while Hunter does his business. Tristan is trying his darnedest to get away from me and run for the door. All hands washed we head back out into the store. My cart is gone! Along with the dog food. So now we go accross the front of the store to the other side where the entrance (and the carts) are. Of course along the way I ask a couple employees if anyone had seen the cart, or if there were any empty ones, and of course the answer was no.

We get reloaded into the cart, and head back for dog food again. I get the few items I need and we head for the front check out. We have a couple more pauses/stops when Hunter stops to look at things he really, really wants, but isn't getting today. In line a very nice man informs me that Alexa is missing a shoe. She tends to take them off when she is mad.. she just uses her other foot to push it off her heel. If I don't hear it drop Tristan usually tells on her. She had gotten mad a couple times when I would not get something she wanted. I didn't hear, and Tristan didn't tell. I look around the immediate area.. no shoe. So we back track and after about 10-15 minutes we find her shoe.

So back we go to the check out line, which is now longer than it was before. We wait our turn, pay for our items and head out to the car. I turn the car on to get the air going.. it is at least 100 degrees in the car. I pull the cart right up next to the van (which isn't always possible if people park too close), I put Tristan in first because he is my climber/runner, and then I lift and reach Alexa accross to her seat because the person parked on the other side parked way too close. Hunter climbs in and buckles up. I put the groceries and dog food into the back, put the cart under the nearest tree (the place to park the carts is too far for me to go with the car left running.) I get in the driver's seat and note the time... 4:03 pm. Why do I feel like it was longer than that!?