(More than) Fourinarow.net

My 40-year-old husband decided – at the last minute – to run his first half marathon.  He ran 10 miles the other day with his running club and was feeling pretty good about it, so we signed him up for tomorrow’s half.  Since race day will be chaotic, we drove to the next town over (per the instructions) to pick up his race-day packet.  The pick up was at a running store.  We had all the kids.

Since the running store had a kid’s table with crayons and paper, we made it through unscathed.  Afterward, however, we decided to walk around the town a bit.  The area had a really nice downtown and the day couldn’t have been more beautiful.  As we walked along, we constantly reminded the children (the Von Traps we’re not) to stay together, to be careful, and to keep their hands to themselves.

We made it part of the way…

There were a lot of outdoor cafes in this town.  And these cafes were ready to serve their customers – with nicely made up tables.  And one of my children failed to keep her hands to herself.  So, as we walked along, suddenly there was a crash.  Involving breakage.  We all halted.  (I swear, the residents, watching us, must have thought there was a parade in town.)  I looked at each of the faces of my children and it became immediately evident who was at fault.  Maria’s sweet face held a mixture of disbelief, fear and sheer panic.  I’ve never seen eyes so wide… until we told her she’d have to go inside and tell the owner what she’d done.  Tears burst forth like fountains.  Trying not to laugh, Dan walked her into the restaurant to report the incident.

As we herded the children back to the car, we (re)lectured that THAT is why you keep your hands to yourself!!!

Maria sulked on the way home.

*****

Until, that is, Dan said he’d like to stop at the Whole Foods we’d seen along our way.  I groaned, as did the kids, but Dan insisted that his friend, Pauley, had told him about some really awesome special pickles only available at Whole Foods.  Dan had to have some.

Let me just say that this Whole Foods was NOT family friendly.  The aisles were narrow, the carts were small and there were WAY too many displays.  Also, we couldn’t find the pickles.  We tromped all through the store. Twice.  Then we found a very nice lady to ask, and she had us follow her…  All over the store.  It was like playing follow the leader.  The other patrons probably thought were were trying to get the bunny hop started.  We never did find what we were looking for, so the very nice lady went to ask someone else.  She came back and reported that they did not carry the super special awesome pickles.

As we were leaving the store, I saw the very nice lady stop another shopper to ask if they needed help.  Ha.  Good luck with that!

*****

After arriving home, I fed the baby and ran off to Target, as we were out of a few necessities.  While there, I picked up the game Trouble.    You know?  From when we were kids?  You press the bubble in the middle of the board and it rolls the die?

Anyhow, after playing it at a friend’s house, Luke had been asking me to buy it.  Why I did so after such a trying afternoon, I don’t know.  But, I did.

The kids were ecstatic when they saw the game and wanted to play RIGHT THEN.  I managed to hold them off while I put the groceries away and then Luke, Maria, Sam and I sat down to play.  It was fun… for about three minutes.  Luke couldn’t manage to roll a six and enter the game.  Who’d a thought you could pop that sucker EIGHTY times and one player never gets a six?!?  Of course it had to be Luke. He who wanted me to buy the game.  He with the least patience.  He with the most desire to win.

There were tears.  There was yelling.  There was stomping.  There was… TROUBLE.

Lukie did eventually get a six, and thereafter things moved along.  Until someone else got upset about something else.

We never did finish the game.