Target

Today we went to Target for the express purpose of using our gift cards. All four children had money burning a hole in their figurative pocket and couldn't wait to spend it. So... after school we headed over to the brand spanking new Sunnyvale Target. (It even has it's own parking garage!)

First stop - bathrooms. It has become my rule of thumb that all people go to the bathroom before any shopping commences. From experience, I have learned that as soon as you get across the store with half your shopping done, someone will have to pee. And heaven forbid you leave your cart nearby only to come out and find it gone. Then you have to start all over again. This is bad enough with two kids in tow, but four? No way.

Second stop - dollar section. As fun as this section is (and let's be honest here - I love this section as much as the kids do), it jump starts the shopping excursion into warp speed - sensory overload. There are so many cool and cute things everyone just "has to have". And we haven't even gotten to the toy section yet.

After limiting our time in the dollar section (so I didn't start screaming in the middle of the store) we then meandered through the girls clothes and then the boys clothes where we debated on the best winter PJ's for Misha while at the same time trying to explain that no one else needed winter PJ's. Of course Anna wants to touch everything and wander around.

We "quickly" (sort of) made our way to toys. Emily stopped at crafts, Misha headed over to Nerf, Hot Wheels, and Lego's, and Mason and Anna wanted everything. It was kind of like telling cats not to play with catnip. The little kids quickly reached their spending limit - which Mason understood, but of course Anna had no clue. Misha still couldn't decide what to do with his money. Emily needed to check out CD players, still. Misha was hoping I would buy and X-box system so he could buy games. So we continued to wander around some more.

In an effort to keep Anna with me and to keep her from touching EVERYTHING and needing to show me EVERYTHING, I put her in the cart. This pleased her for all of 5 minutes. Misha still didn't know what he wanted. "Mama, mama, mama, mama..." is all I could hear. (I think I'm going to change my name.)

Next we headed to mens to look at wallets. Misha found several he liked until he realized he had to use his money to pay for it. Now the cheap ugly one at home seemed like a real deal. Thinking we were done, I headed to the checkout. By now I was pulling the cart behind me to minimize Anna's need to pull and stretch my sweater, call my name, and reach for everything that came close enough to reach. On the way to check out, Emily announced that she needed to go to the dollar section again. I let her, but parked half an aisle away to avoid even more demands from other small children.

Finally, we made it to the checkout. Anna who had been trying to crawl out of the cart suddenly didn't want to get out. Go figure. What did Misha get? Nothing. He has decided to save for the $70 remote control car.

As overwhelming as this excursion was for me (I thought that I might be the one to throw the tantrum a few times), I realized that Anna was never taken shopping in the Ukraine and definitely not in a store like Target! No wonder she wants to touch everything. I like touching everything and I go to Target all the time. All in all, it was a fun (mostly) family experience. This trip was about the kids and not Mom's list of things to get. Definitely a bonding time.