a trip to town

going to the store/running errands is no small task when you live out here like we do.  in fact, in my opinion, it is rather a big deal; such a big deal that it even has a name: "going to town".  it is especially a big deal when i take all my littles (which, really, i hardly ever go without them since that requires getting a babysitter for 7-12 hours).   and of course adding in meals and stuff is always fun while "running a few errands" since always at least one meal happens in that time.  "going to town" usually takes most of, if not all of, the day.  really.  it does.  some people that live out this far (or farther) may think that it isn't a big deal at all.  at this point in my life I say it is and I am so. over. it.  blah.  but what do you do?  not go?  it takes about an hour to get to the closest part of the big town where everything is (about 50 miles), including driving over a mountain, which is not my favorite thing.  (the smaller town is 45 minutes away in another direction, but only has 1 expensive grocery store.)  and then of course add on whatever time to get to other side of the big town.  costco, for instance, is an hour and 20 minutes away.  

while in town, of course it is ideal to get as many things done as possible: errands; purchases; etc.  but in reality i am ready to go home after the first 2 places (strapping kids in car seats - read: fighting a certain 2-y-o over and over to do so- is a leading factor in this).  I am a fan of drive-throughs.  and getting things on-line and delivered to my house (which really i hardly ever do).  you better hope that you don't forget anything while there, because it is a long way back.

all that being said, it is still fun to get out of the house and go do fun things in town sometimes.  

weston and kate had gone in to run some errands the other day, so the other 4 kids and i planned to meet up with them to use our miniature golf passes that we got at the school auction in the spring.  but first we had an errand of our own to run.  remember the sweet, yet old and slightly decrepit, adult tricycle from this post?  well, turned out that the owner didn't want it, so we got it.  i had weston take the back seat of the suburban out that morning so we could fit it in. 

our farmer friend loaded it for me.  i'm so glad that it fit. 

since the back seat was out, and we had 4 young'uns, spencer got to sit up front.  i had him take a couple of pictures for me as we drove down the road, like this one of this old white farm house with a first and second story porch that i love.

and this old black and white dresser in this little store window that i think is adorable.  it is from the 20's or 30's and is $100.  do you think that is a good deal?  i am such a cheap skate.  i wonder if it's still there.  we are in the need for another dresser. 

it was fun having him sit up with me.  it will be legal in a year.

it was 100+ degrees and an hour and a half of driving to get to the mini-golf place.  our a.c. is still broken (i don't mind so much when it is under 100, but over that can be a bit sweaty).  we listened to some of my old tapes, like the police, a ska and reggae mix tape, omd and indigo girls.  We listened to indigo girls's "cold as ice" a few times to maybe help us think cool thoughts on such a hot and sticky car ride.

"it's cold as ice baby, but i, but i need your looooooove..."  i love to sing out loud, and with most people's car windows up in the city because they have air conditioning, they couldn't hear me.

at the mini golf place we met up with weston and kate and started our game.  spencer and ezra were having fun, kate was so not and, at one point in our game, even laid down on the course because she "didn't get it" and was that over it.  

zoe was tired and a bit cranky and she and jiles just wanted to run crazy everywhere.  (look closely below to see ezra's mis-matched shoes.)

weston and i decided that it was in everyone's best interest to do "the fast track" (that we made up ourselves- basically skipping a bunch of the 18(!) holes), and head to golden corral.  this was something that the kids added to our summer bucket list to do once during the summer.  since we were so close to it, and it was dinner time, we thought it would be a good time to go.  

the kids rank going to golden corral up there above going to mini golf.  this is the second time that they have been there.  as we sat and ate, and looked around, both weston and i had the thoughts of "waste" and "gluttony".    

there was a little sign on every table:

"you have the right..."  

does anyone else think that we have an entitlement problem in our country?

i'll stop there.

we ran into some friends while we were there, and that was very fun.

after g.c., kate and ezra and i hit up a couple thrift stores to look for some much needed shoes.  spencer has been wearing his cleats everywhere, and ezra wore one church shoe and one tennis shoe to mini golf and golden corral; that has actually been his "norm" lately - most of the time at least one shoe was kate's shoe.  hahaha.

ezra and kate, best friends as they are, and as silly as ezra likes to be, had a blast together.  this picture makes me laugh so much and it is so ezra's personality:

if they weren't prescription glasses, i might have gotten them.  we did find some good shoes for all those that needed them, along with a mini trampoline, a dining room chair, and some prego shirts for me.  it was fun for me going with older kids that i didn't have to chase anywhere.  i love thrifting.

after that we got groceries because of course you don't go to town without getting those.  that would be foolish.