A trip to Billings Bridge

The idea:

Pick the girls up from day-care, go to Billings Bridge (our local mall where mostly seniors hang out) and get Gracie some new shoes and treat the girls to dinner at McDonalds.

The actuality:

Pick-up Grace first, who is quite excited about the proposed shoe trip. Pick-up Edie who immediately begins to whine for home because she is tired. Tears. Poor thing. I compromise and promise that she can go shopping in the luxury of the stroller (I never pull that thing out these days!) Happiness. We get to the mall, the girls are hungry, we head upstairs to Mcdonalds. Edie sees the escalator and starts to pitch a fit because she wants to go on it instead of the elevator. I say no because the stroller can’t go on the escalator. Tears. We compromise with the promise that Edie can press the buttons on the elevator. Happiness. Grace buds in front of us and presses the buttons on the elevator. Tears. We get upstairs and I have no cash and McDonalds’ debit is down. Have to go back downstairs to the bank machine. More tears over the escalator being denied, but Grace is kind enough to let Edie press the buttons. Money acquired. Back upstairs, by now girls are conditioned to the elevator. Get to McDick’s and debit is now working (grrrrrr). Girls pick out toys they want in their Happy Meal, only to be told that only “Boy” toys are left. Tears. They get their food and I stop the tears by letting them have juice with dinner (a HUGE deal in our family). Happiness. Edie my picky-eater insists on rubbing her fries on the table before eating them. I insist that she stops. Tears. I give her some juice. Happiness. Girls want to go on mechanical horse, I tell them they can but the *horse is broken* so they can just pretend to ride it. Happiness. Some dick-head comes by and says he wants to give his little girl a ride, sticks her on and pops some loonies in and off she goes. Tears, And now meanoldmommy is a meanoldlyingmommy. I tell them we can go down the escalator now. Happiness. I am holding the stroller, Edie’s hand, and Grace decides that she is too scared to go down without a hand too (normally she is fine). I tell her no, I have to hold the little one’s hand and bring the stroller down. Tears. But she sucks it up and goes down. Happiness. We get to the shoe store. Edie immediately starts trying on shoes. I tell her that we are here for Grace. Tears. Helpful shoe person tells me that there is a buy one get one ½ price deal. Happiness. Girl measures Edie’s feet, she is size 8. I have been putting her little sausages into size 6 shoes. Tears (me for being a bad mother). Edie gets new Dora shoes. Happiness. Grace gets new gold and pink shoes. Happiness. We traipse off to get ice-cream. Happiness. Grace has to the bathroom. I’m non-commital. She tells me it’s #2. Tears. We go off to find washroom, but Edie wants ice-cream now. Tears. We find the bathroom. Happiness. Both girls use the facility. Happiness. We go get ice-cream – a cone for me and Grace, a bowl for Edie. . Edie wants a cone too. Tears. I give her mine. Happiness. The girls work out their sugar-high by dancing in the lobby of Billings Bridge. Lots of old people are very happy watching them. So am I.