Shop 'till you drop

Contrary to a lot of women, I don't REALLY enjoy shopping. I am not sure if its because I usually go w/children. Whether its one, two, or three. And sometimes its more if I meet friends for a pretzel or cinnamon roll. Things are always rushed as I am worried about nap times being messed with or lunch times or enough snacks to make it through. Anyway....My husband REALLY, REALLY doesn't like shopping. He gets what he needs/wants when he needs/wants it. Doesn't mess around. And when he is looking you are not to rush him. He doesn't care when I do go shopping (for the most part) just as long as he doesn't have to go or be bothered with it. So about 5 years ago my mom and I decided to do some xmas shopping in Topeka. We left early in the morning and came home late afternoon. The second year we decided to leave the night before and spend the night. Shop in the evening and shop all the next day. Then 2 years ago my sister came along. And we have been doing it ever since. Brent says if he has to pay for a night in a hotel so he doesn't have to do ANY xmas shopping it is well worth it!!!! Our trip was Monday evening and all day today. I am writing about this now, because I am way too tired to do anything else. I haven't done much since I got home, but I am EXHAUSTED. We had a great time and hope this tradition continues. It was so nice to go into a store and not have to find the bathroom, carry only MY snacks in my purse and not have to worry about who was climbing under what rack. I managed to get almost done. My goal was to get completely done, but as the day wore on and the crowds got larger we all started loosing interest.

One funny thing that did happen. On Sunday night when I started packing a bag, Garrett and Maddie had asked if I was packing a swimsuit. I said "YES" rather loudly. They started mouthing off about how it wasn't fair about me going swimming or sitting in the hotub. So I bragged Monday and Monday night rubbing it in, but jokingly (probably not very nice, but it was funny to get their reactions )until we got to the hotel to find out that the hot tub was CLOSED! The pool was freezing so we didn't get to RELAX like we thought. This morning as I was checking out I told the lady we were really disappointed about the hot tub and how we were wanting to warm up and relax and lady says, "oh well you should have said something you could have gone across the street to that hotel. They are a sister hotel and we use them and they use us for things like this all the time" HELLO???? The lady last night didn't mention anything. She saw us go into the pool But when the hot tub has a chain around it, no water in it, and a sign that says "out of order". We guessed there wasn't reallly much we could have done. Right? So a word to the wise I guess you should always ask/complain about things that are broken because you might get some perk some way. My kids thought it served me right, because I bragged about it. Once again the Lord has a since of humor! We had a wonderful time and found a few bargains. And yes Brent managed getting the kids to bed and up and ready for school. He was supposed to have Owen ALL day today, but I think he parents bailed him out, again! What wonderful in laws I have! Ok I am going to bed now. I have a big day tomorrow. I now have to put everything away and clean up my house from my ONE day being gone. I hate to see what two days would be like!!!