On the road

Drove over to the Hilltop gas station on the other side of the Hood Canal Bridge to pick up the twins.  They had a fun-filled four days at their Uncle Andy and Aunt Mary's house.  Spent 5 hours at the Woodland Park Zoo, went to the Cougar Mt. zoo, saw a movie, shopped Toys R Us, and went school clothes shopping.  The kids had birthday gift cards to shop with as well so my trunk was loaded up with packages.

I stopped at Wild Birds in Gardiner on the way home so Maddie could use the restroom. Hunter wanted to stay in the car and asked me to lock the doors.  I went into the gift shop to browse (big mistake) and when I came out, my car alarm was blaring. He tried to unlock the doors for Maddie but didn't do it correctly, apparently.  Expensive potty break stop for me because I was in a shopping mood. Bought two wind thingies.  The first one is brass cups that chime in the wind and sound even cooler when raindrops hit them.  I've always enjoyed the rainbow whirly gigs so was pleased to see them on sale.

I stopped at the local grocery store in my neighborhood that has a post office sub station. I sure wish they could figure out the correct price for mailing stuff.  A few weeks ago I mailed 20 reunion disks and she charged me over a dollar a piece.  Today, she decided the price was 64 cents. Same packaging.  I asked her why she charged me more last time and she seemed confused.  Thought maybe her scale was off.  Yeah, right.

I decided to stop in Sequim on the way home as I wanted to look over the new Ross clothing store and Grocery Outlook next door.  Wasn't all that impressed with either.  Ross had a lot of open space so I guess they'll fill up as time goes on.  I was sitting up front waiting for Maddie to finish looking at their jeans selection and noticed that every employee who left had to open their purse and/or sack so the security guy could look inside.

I asked him why that was necessary and he said Ross had over a thousand stores and it was store policy.  I don't think I'd be all that excited about having an employer who wanted to look in my purse everytime I left the store when my shift ended.  Granted they've probably had a lot of theft to deal with but still.....

Grocery Outlook kind of reminded me of the Dollar Store.  I suppose their prices did appear a little cheaper but their aisles were too narrow to navigate the too large carts.  I hate that.  I started to buy three ears of corn as they were cheaper than Safeway but when I picked up one, it felt like it had been frozen.  I decided I'd pass on corn today.

I just saw a kid about 11 or so go by on roller blades. He was having so much fun and seemed really happy.  Following behind was his dad in a motorized cart giving directions and cheering him on.  The dad didn't look that old and somehow the whole scene kind of made me sad.  I sensed that the dad wanted to be on skates too but couldn't.

I stopped at Penneys and picked up a set of sheets that were on sale for half off.  Hunter wanted to go look at the shirts and shoes to see how much money he saved buying stuff on the Seattle side.  Made me laugh.   They're both excited about the fair starting this week. Maddie will work the Camp Fire booth and Hunter will probably hang out there as well. Jenni is judging in the arts and crafts department.  I haven't made up my mind yet if I'll go. 

I woke up at 4 a.m. and thought for a while I was going to have to get up. I stayed put, though, and eventually fell asleep for another couple of hours.  Weird dreams as usual. This one had Ray Merritt in it among other people.  Sure is hard to believe the kids go back to school in a couple of weeks.  I think they're both looking forward to it, though.  Being sixth graders at elementary school is kind of like being a senior in high school.

Hunter had to go to an orthopedic surgeon this afternoon to get his cast on. They told him no carnival rides this week. The cast has to be sawed off when it's time.