Good Day

Well it’s a good thing that we lost our internet connection this evening, or I would never have uploaded the 100-some pictures that I took today.  I was just going to talk about how I’d taken so many pictures and was totally unmotivated to upload them so I could share, but since the internet was down, I realized there was nothing better to do!  So if this is posted on the blog – obviously we got our internet back.  There was a big rain-storm here this evening!  We saw it coming on as we left Texas Roadhouse and drove right into it coming home.  And for some reason, every time it rains here, we lose internet service.  And our phone line gets all crackly. 

Here are Bry and the boys outside Roadhouse...he had to take them out early because suddenly Sam was DONE being in the restaurant.  You can see the storm clouds back behind them:

 Here is the view we had coming home -- these are the Catalinas.  Beautiful!!

The boys and I had a fun day today.  Mama was in a little better mood than yesterday (though I’m not sure why, I didn’t get any more sleep than I did the night before) and I knew we needed to get out and do something fun.  So what do you do for fun in the summertime in Arizona?  You go to the mall!  We had lunch in the Food Court; Ben wanted orange chicken, which means Panda Express.  Then we played on the cars (the ones you put $$ in, except we don't :)) and in the play area....shopped a bit, went and looked at the water fountain (they love to see the water gushing), came home.  The boys were actually pretty well-behaved, and Ben was very obedient, even when he didn’t want to be.  So I was proud of him and happy to actually have had an enjoyable trip to the mall, for the first time in….oh, four years?  (How old is he now?)

As we were leaving the mall, we approach our car, and of course Ben is walking, and I’ve got the stroller with a sleeping Sam in it, our bags, my water bottle, soda, and the two sippy cups.  We’re traveling heavy.  And this dude in a sleek sports car pulls up behind me and decides that he’s going to WAIT for my spot!!  I thought, “Dude, you’ll be waiting for a while.”  I learned a long time ago to not let these people stress me out or make me hurry.  You cannot hurry a 3.5-year-old.  So as I get Ben in the car, then our bags, our many cups of beverages (because it IS summer here in AZ)…Dude starts to rev his engine.  I thought, “Really?”  I ignored him.  Ben noticed, of course – Mr. Observant.  “What’s that sound?”  So I tell him it’s the car’s engine, and then the Dude pulls away finally.  I get sleeping Sam in the car, and a few other miscellaneous items that have fallen out of my purse and the diaper bag into the stroller, and Dude comes back!  Now, I promise you, I did not have the most stellar parking spot.  There had to be others available that were either just as good or better.  But now I think Dude was on a mission.  So I get my stroller in the car, and finally myself in the car, and Dude keeps inching his car closer – as if that is going to hurry me up.  I was not trying to go slow – but when I’ve got two kids, many bags, a stroller, and it’s about 100 degrees with 80 percent humidity – I am not able to move quickly.  And Dude apparently has time on his hands, because he’s at the mall at 2:00 on a Wednesday afternoon in his sports car.

He didn't bother me a bit, though -- I found the entire situation amusing.  Reminds me of an article that a friend recently shared on FB, and then I shared it, and all my mommy friends were so happy.  Here is the link: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/motherhood-is-a-calling-and-where-your-children-rank#.TicFhJ5AhTl.  Children are a low priority to most people -- and as a mother, I am not going to apologize for having my children out in public and for people having to "wait" on them.  We are always kind and friendly!  Anyway the article is about more than that -- read it, fellow mommy -- you'll be blessed.