Family Outing

We went out yesterday.   The whole family got in the car, we went to a store and then we got lunch at a restaurant.   It was almost surreal.

It's been so long it seems since there was normalcy in our lives.  We've been at home with COVID-19 for multiple months.  My husband and I have been out and do go out regularly to the grocery store or pharmacy.   I've been to doctor's offices for things that couldn't be handled via telemedicine, but in general, that's about it.

My children have been in the car only a few times each, most notably last weekend when we got in the car altogether to go to Nana and Papa's house for dinner.  Other than that, they both have said they don't remember what it's like to be in a car.

My son and husband are susceptible to carsickness if the situation is right.   My son can talk himself into being carsick when he doesn't like where we're going or is in a bad mood.   In this case, it might have been that the motion was less familiar since he hadn't experienced it in such a long while.

My daughter was even bothered by the motion—something that's never happened to her before.   She said, "can you be less torquinnie please?"   That's a phonetic spelling of what she said that sounded like it had the word 'torque' as a base.  My husband had been turning a littie more quickly than she liked.

Where did we go?   My daughter wanted to get another one of those big, plastic blue pools typically sold at Wal*Mart.   We've had several with them eventually being stepped on and bent so much tha duct tape wouldn't keep the leaks under control.  Our most recent two pools, one large and the other small and from my in-laws, were compromised mightily by the children using them repeatedly as sleds down the back yard and into the woods.

My husband cut the large one up so it could be recycled—something that sounds easy but is actually harder than you might think.   We still have the little blue one and maybe we can repair it.  Drive by visits yesterday to two Wal*Mart stores, oddly within five miles of each other, showed unsurprisingly that none were left in stock.

We went to Red Robin for lunch then, with our masks on until we got seated outside on the patio.   There were very few people in the restaurant the entire time we were there during peak lunch time.  After lunch, the children both had said they wanted to do some shopping to spend some of their saved money since they hadn't been out in a long time.

While Red Robin was empty, Wal*Mart was packed with the parking lot completely full so we went back to the first one that was closer to our house and had seemed more empty than full.   We donned our masks and walked the aisles.   We were there for a decent bit of time, mostly looking around but getting a few things we needed and something each of them wanted.  We headed back to the car and used hand sanitizer and then went home.   I don't know when we'll go out again, things aren't over and numbers are rising some lately of COVID-19 cases.  It was nice going out as a family again.

The Big Boy Update:   I got my son some much-needed shoes, even though he complained that's not what he wanted to look for.   I convinced him to get some sandals that were like what Uncle Jonathan always wore.  My son wasn't interested in them at all until I told him he would be like Uncle Jonathan—then he was in.   We sent a picture to Uncle Jonathan who complimented him on his new pair of, "slides".   I'd never heard that term before but it makes sense since you slide your feet into them.   Uncle Jonathan wanted to know how the heck my son had grown six inches since he'd seen him last.  It does seem like my son is taller lately.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was in the toy aisle trying to convince her father she wanted a toy that was really a toy for toddlers.   To her, it seemed like fun but her father didn't want to get it because he thought it would have very short playability with her.   I agreed silently when I saw it.   I had come from another aisle with a large bean bag seat I'd found on the top of a shelf.  It had a soft lilac-colored exterior.   My daughter loves flopping on things and the feel of the little styrofoam beads inside the chair was just the kind of thing she'd love.   She abandoned the toy and now we have the first piece of new furniture in her new room.