Family Outings

We went on a family outing today. All four of us. It was a beautiful day and I had some items to return up north and we had gift cards to Red Robin. Get stuff done AND have dinner and not pay for it? Score!


It seemed like a good idea at the time.


Short term memory loss caused us to forget about Calen's terrible mood the last several days. Or maybe my short term memory made me think that having two adults on this excursion might help the odds of preventing or treating any potential meltdowns. Either way, we packed up and headed to a strange land called Mays Landing.


Mays Landing isn't that spectacular. It just happens to be the closest shopping centre in the area ("close" is still 40 freaking minutes away. Call me crazy but there is plenty of open space between there and Cape May that could have been a good place for a Target or a Kohls). It's also pretty much a dump, like the rest of New Jersey. Run down malls, busy department stores, obnoxious Jersey people with their obnoxious Jersey Shore attitudes and a wonderful collection of cheap American restaurants (Chilis, Applebees, Famous Daves, Red Robin, all within like 2 miles). 


Doesn't sound that impressive, but for someone who lives on a tiny cape full of nothing but bed and breakfasts, overpriced local restaurants and gift shops, Mays Landing is a welcome mecca of consumer awesomeness.


Ahhh, just like home. Except it smells funny.


We went to Target. Because anytime I'm anywhere within a mile of a Target I HAVE to go in. It's like my little window to the real world. I returned an item and then we went in search of some random things. Things started to go downhill. Calen was whining in the cart about cheeseburgers. He wanted a cheeseburger. NOW. He clearly hadn't eaten in years (the apples and cheese in the car obviously didn't count) and was withering away. I told him he could have a cheeseburger when we went to Red Robin later. (it was like 3:30 in the afternoon).

Later for a toddler is basically saying never. Later will NEVER happen because by the time "later" rolls around, it's far too late and they will DIE before it happens.


Tears, whining and constant complaining about cheeseburgers resounded throughout Target. I told Calen "soon." Usually "soon" works better. He's usually a pretty patient kid. But yesterday's wretched case of the "No's" definitely had continued into today, so even saying "soon" wasn't working. We whisked ourselves out of Target as fast as we could.


Of course I got the slowest checker ever conceived by man. His name tag read "New Member". Which means he was inept and they weren't planning on keeping him. Even when I worked at Albertsons I had a name tag with my actual name on it the first day. So after 2982 minutes he finally run up my $18 worth of items and we escaped with our sanity, while Calen asked everyone in the parking lot if he could have a cheeseburger.


So we went to Red Robin. At 4:30 in the afternoon. Just like a bunch of senior citizens going after the early bird special. So that we could stop hearing about cheeseburgers.


I think I've figured out why older people eat dinner (out) so early. There was no one there. No one! And the waitstaff was probably only 45 minutes into their shift, so they were happy, and helpful, and not stressed with the dinner rush (yet). Food came fast and service was great. The older generation is on to something.


Calen finally settled down once he was seated with a menu and a promise of a cheeseburger, fries and mandarin oranges (and lemonade) on the way. He colored and played with his monster trucks and was very pleasant. Cam was quiet in his high chair stuffing his face with crackers and french fries. Brad and I looked at each other and it was a little surreal.


Were we going to get away with a dinner out with both kids acting like decent members of society?

Calen finally gets his cheeseburger. Meanwhile Cam is angrily staring some random stranger down.

Almost.


The mandarin oranges ran out. And I took away Calen's lemonade so he wouldn't pee 1039392 times before we left (we had a 40 minute drive home!). And I MADE him take 10 bites of the cheeseburger that he wanted so badly all day but then once he got it wasn't interested. All of these elements made Calen frustrated, angry, tired, done. But, he held it together, and he even got a little surprise. 


The Red Robin staff came and sang their little Happy Happy Birthday song to him (we lied and told him it was his birthday today instead of Tuesday) and gave him a free sundae. All was forgotten with a big glass of ice cream in front of him and he was all smiles. And then we gave him an early birthday surprise.


He got to go to Toys R Us after dinner and pick out something, anything he wanted.


By the time dinner was over it was 6:15. The kids are usually ready for bed by 6:30. But today was a special day and we wanted to do Toys R Us. Calen was jazzed on ice cream but Cam was exhausted. But we took them anyways. We put Calen in the cart and let him look at everything in every aisle (with exception of the pink aisles). We showed him big lego sets and awesome trucks and all sorts of things. 


But Calen seemed to KNOW what he wanted beforehand. He amused us and looked at things but he kept asking "I see all the trains?" So we took him to the Thomas section. 


And he picked out a train. ONE small, metal train (named Bash, from one of the Thomas movies he loves). We even asked him if he wanted a cool train playset that's from the same movie that he could play Bash on. But he said no. He wanted Bash. And only Bash. We went through the store and showed him all sorts of other things. But he kept saying the same thing.


"I want open Bash please?? I want Bash"


I remember my aunt telling me a story about how she took my cousin to the store when she was little and said she could pick out ANYTHING, and left with a cheap My Little Pony horse and one very happy little girl. 


The apple, it seems, doesn't fall far from the tree.

So we exhausted the store. We even showed Calen other Thomas trains and told him he could pick out ones in addition to Bash.


But he didn't want any. He wanted Bash. Only Bash.


So we checked out, and Calen walked out with a $6.99 Bash train, and was a VERY happy little boy. 


Which made me smile. He didn't need anything big and awesome. The smallest thing made him the happiest boy within 100 miles. (I'm sure).


We went ahead and bought him the Thomas playset anyways. We almost felt guilty walking out of the store only buying him a $7 train for his birthday. And a tub of Lego Duplos. Hey, just because he didn't want to be spoiled doesn't mean we couldn't. 

Calen was all smiles with his chosen birthday present: a tiny Thomas train

And then, we pushed our luck and went to the bookstore. The kids were exhausted and beyond bedtime. It lasted about 5 minutes. Cam was screaming in the stroller and Calen was upset that he couldn't buy every Berenstein Bear book in sight. So I let Brad shop and I rushed the boys outside so that they could melt down in the car. With the windows up. And the radio loud.

They were both asleep within 5 minutes. 

Calen NEVER sleeps in the car.

I think it was a successful outing. For the most part.  

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