Fun-filled Family Outing

Okay, so I felt pressured into starting a blog (thanks Sal). So here it is. Hope that it's not too boring or anything.

Anyway, today being Saturday, having slept in and humored our laziness for most of the morning, Ben, Henry and I head out on an excursion to the mall. Henry got one of those gift cards from the "Build a Bear" store for Christmas and we figured we'd better go ahead and get that taken care of.

True to form, Henry exhibited very little interest in picking out a bear. He had more fun running around examining the various machines and bear primping stations. To speed things up a bit Ben picked out a koala bear and we stood in line for like half an hour waiting to have the thing stuffed. Every other time I've seen the place it's been literally deserted but today there were like a million kids in there with tour groups and family reunions, etc. Henry finally started to warm up to the idea, clutching the koala carcass and eagerly awaiting his turn at the stuffing machine, but we were behind this family with six or eight kids, and since the kids each had to step on the pedal themselves to work the machine, kiss the little hearts, jump up and down, make wishes and name the animals, it was taking a bit of time. "It's my turn now," Henry kept saying to the bear-stuffing guy, who already had a huge pile of animals in his lap. Luckily another machine opened up as this conga line of shrieking kids thundered by: "Stuff my bear!" So we got the bear stuffed, Henry got to cram in the little red heart, and dress it in military fatigues. The we waited in line to print up the birth certificate. Henry named it G.I. Joe and we stood in line to pay for it. Then Henry saw another bear and said, "I want that one. I want a knight bear." Of course, by then I was about to lose it because the entire time I've had to keep a death grip on his wrist to keep him from bolting and I've got an extremely low tolerance for sap. So when we got out of the store I checked my watch. An hour. It took an hour to stuff a stupid bear that he's already forgotten. Rahh! I mean, uh, that sure was fun. Witnessing the magical light in Henry's eyes as his precious koala was brought to life was well worth it.

Yeah, I know I'm coming across as a total jerk. Oh, well.

After that we had some quality dining at Salsarita's and I decided that we should make one more stop at Old Navy so I can use my gift card. Whilst I was perusing, Ben brought me the news that Henry escaped and was at large. This happens just about every time we go anywhere so I wasn't too concerned. I went one way while Ben went to guard the exit. About two seconds into my search I hear a distinctive Henry-sounding wail and there he is, stooped under a rack of coats with blood running down the side of his face. He had a little cut on the top of his head which, because it was a superficial scalp injury, had to bleed profusely so I walked him up front and got some napkins from a cashier. The cut stopped bleeding right away and the manager let us go in back where we could get cleaned up a little bit. Of course I was wearing a white shirt. I'm only wearing white when I'm eating spaghetti or my kid bleeds all over me.

Henry was slightly interested in the blood.

"Look Henry. I've got your blood all over my hand. This came from your head. Because you ran away and smacked your head on a coat rack. Are you going to run away from mommy again?"

"Yes."

Of course you are, you little weasel.

The nice lady gave Henry a piece of candy and a cold pack for his head and we left.

Yeah, what a day.