Fool's Errand

I took the girls to see Santa on Friday. What was I thinking?

Why it sucks to see Santa:
There is no mall in my relative nearness, so we have to drive at least half an hour to any given mall. (Stupid Riverdale strip mall, I hate those things!)
Malls do not open until 10:00, and Santas do not show up until then. Considering that the sacred naptime is at 11:30, and that lunch needs to happen at 11:00, and that traveling with 2 small children takes 4 times longer than you ever think it would, this leaves only afternoon to go to see Santa, after naptime, which puts us driving home during rush hour in ENTIRELY the wrong direction.
Although I own a double stroller and have recently discovered that Meimei is now advanced enough to sit in a reclined stroller seat, it was a second-hand item and I have recently realized there is no crotch buckle in one of the seats, and therefore there are no restraints on that side. No child tray I can live with, but no restraints is not okay. One will slide right out, the other will leap out at the first shiny pretty thing we go by. So I actually do not have a double stroller.

So I went in the afternoon, after naptime, although Kitten was crabby with teething and hunger and Meimei was, well, 3 months and does what a 3 month-old does. I put Kitten on her leash and put Meimei in the stroller, which is a test of patience because Kitten does not always want to go where we are going. With a dog, you can just pull on the leash, but people frown on mothers pulling their toddlers to the ground to correct their direction. Kitten and Meimei cried the whole way there and back in the car. I spent $8 on a kid's meal and a hamburger at the mall. Kitten did NOT enjoy Santa Claus. I spent another $40 on pictures because I wanted them taken separately.

And to top it all off, The Body Shop did not even have Lavender Body Oil spray, they only had the Bergamot, which I love but Pants hates. Major suckage.