Costco - Not for the Faint of Heart

I'm almost too drained to retell my Costco tale from today. It took a Bud Lite and the ultimate in comfort food -- a grilled cheese sandwich from the Metro 29 Diner -- to get my heart rate and blood pressure to normalize. It's only 9:30 on Saturday night but I'm ssssooooo ready for bed.  My day traumatized me just a tad.

Here's the cliff's notes version --

I needed formula and, since Anna will be drinking it for the next 6 1/2 months, I decided that if ever there was a product that you wanted a massive vat of (I've never understood who exactly it is who buys those 10 pound containers or mayonnaise) it's formula.I should have kept going when I realized that the ridiculous traffic jam was actually cars just trying to get in the Costco parking lot. I should have, but I didn't. And, of course, I had both girls with me.

It took 12 minutes to find a parking space and another 20 to walk from said space to the front door.

Although we escaped any major meltdowns inside, we had several near misses when we passed by a mountain of Barbies and Polly Pockets.We were able to stock up on some yummy produce...formula...after school snacks and Mots for Tots juice boxes. And although there were like 5 things in my cart, they rang up at $149.37. Which I paid. After waiting in line for seemingly forever. With a child who claimed she had to pee -- and it was "an emergency!" -- when we were half way through the line. Of course, let's not forget Anna's bottle that somehow exploded all over me, while standing in line. Which meant that I was covered in the gross smelling liquid and she had nothing to eat.

Fine. Comes with the Costco territory. However, as we were leaving I realized that I had no idea where my parking ticket was. The ticket that I needed to get validated. I kept standing in front of the validation dude hoping against all odds that if I stood there long enough the ticket would magically reappear. 

The short story is that I raced to the car (pushing one of those HUGE Costco carts...and remember, I wasn't exactly parked right out front) and searched it. Searched under it. Searched around it.  Searched it again. I went back inside Costco to retrace my steps. I emptied my diaper bag not once but twice. In desperation, I grabbed the girls and went to get a new parking ticket. And I got busted. By a guy who's only English words were "lost ticket...20 dollars...parking booth." Excuse me? If I can get out of $600 in fines from the District of Columbia, there's a zero percent chance that I'm going to pay $20 for a lost parking ticket! 

At this point, though, I was spitting fire. Literally and metaphorically. The trips back and forth to the car, on top of my immense frustration and annoyance, added to the 150% humidity today and, well, I was starting to soak through my shirt.

In the end, I found my ticket. Tucked inside the changing pad. And to thank Lily for being so obedient during my momentary "freak out," I marched her back to that mountain of Barbies and let her pick one out. So that I could make my daughter's day AND, of course, have the pleasure of standing in a horrific line for the second time in an hour.

If you factor out the Costco catastrophe, though, it was a pretty great day. After my pilates class, we packed the girls in to the car and headed down to the Mall to the National Book Festival. Lily got to meet one of her current heroes -- PBS Kids' Super Why -- and we had a fun lunch with David and Jackson in the sculpture garden.  The kids took a tiny "dip" in the fountain afterwards.

To round out the day, Lily got a haircut (an adorable bob that makes her look so old...where did my baby go??) and she and Noah are camping "out" in the living room.

Of course, today was a day that we were supposed to just take it easy. Without any real plans. As if!!!