Kiersten’s Blog

Who says it never rains in southern California?  That’s what I always think.  That’s why I only own one umbrella.  (To be fair, we did have two but one broke.)  That’s why when London wanted a princess umbrella, gum boots and a rain coat, I talked her out of it.  Now I wish I had been a nicer mom.  Today it rained.  But it wasn’t raining when we left this morning.  I was feeling optimistic.  It was Taylor’s first day back to work since we moved and since I had to do some much needed grocery shopping, I decided to drop him off, visit some friends, go to story time at our old library, and go grocery shopping.  All of these things happened, but we sure had an adventure.

The fun started after story time.  I didn’t take my umbrella into the library because it wasn’t raining when we got there.  At least I was smart enough to make London change her jacket before we left so she would be wearing one with a hood., just in case.  However, I let her wear her Crocs.  They dry fast, right?  I probably would have been better off with a pair of them than I was with my canvas shoes that soaked and then soaked my socks and then my feet.  At least London’s dried fast.  Anyway, back to the library.  It was raining when we left, so we ran as fast as we could to the car.  Poor Ashton.  He was the only one without a hood and he’s the baldest of us all.  But no complaints from him.  After the library we picked up some Taco Bell and went to Taylor’s office to share lunch.  The nice lady at the drive-through window gave London some cinnamon twists just for being cute (which, incidentally, happens ALL the time at that Taco Bell), but she forgot the chips for her nachos, which we didn’t notice until we got all unpacked at Taylor’s office.  Oh well.  London dipped her cinnamon twists in the nacho cheese and I promised to go back for the chips when we were done.

After lunch, we left Taylor at work and went to Target for some groceries.  I pulled into a great parking spot, all excited that we didn’t have to walk far in the rain, when London reminded me that we forgot her chips.  So back to Taco Bell we went.  By the time we got back, the good spot was gone.  So I parked closer to Albertson’s.  We’d be going there anyway.  I usually get what I can at Target, then go next door to Albertson’s for the rest of the stuff.  I promised London we could buy an umbrella there, but of course, they were sold out.  She was pacified by me telling her that we would find one at Albertson’s.  As the shopping continued, the power went out.  Twice.  This freaked out my afraid-of-the-dark daughter, but not for too long.  We got what we needed and braved the storm to the car.  Here I was, pushing a “playing cart” full of goods while holding a baby in a sling and trying to keep the umbrella over the three of us.

This wasn't taken today. It's just to show you what a "playing cart" is.

I bought a gate for the top of our stairs, which was on the bottom of the cart so when we went over the little yellow bumps, the gate fell off and I had to run through a puddle with Ashton to get it back on the cart while I left London to get wet in the rain.  We dropped our stuff off in the car and headed to Albertson’s.  We always have to get a car cart there.  It was Ashton’s first ride in an Albertson’s one and he loved it, for the first few minutes.  By the time we were leaving the store, I was trying to hold a crying baby, while the baggers (we had a lot of help because nobody else was dumb enough to go out today) tried to bribe London to get out of the car cart with stickers.  She didn’t want to because I wasn’t buying an umbrella.  At least I had help and one of the baggers offered to help me to the car.  It had stopped raining by then, but I stepped in a huge puddle and soaked both of my feet, as well as my jeans.

Once we got home, we ate dinner, and the kids had a grand time playing together on our new floor.  The only problem was the soot all over the floor.  When we moved in, the floo in our chimney was stuck open.  Apparently my dad and Taylor got it shut, but our fireplace cover doesn’t fit on our new fireplace, so when the wind blows, soot blows into our living room, even though the floo is now closed.  It wouldn’t be so bad if my kids weren’t playing all over the floor.  So into the tub they went for the second time today.  Now they’re both fast asleep.  Thank goodness for ice cream after a day like today.  I’m glad I don’t live in Seattle.  I don’t think I could handle this all the time.