Today was one of those great "Dad Fail" days in a long sad history of "Dad Fails". However, I did learn a few important lessons as a result of my complete ineptitude. So there's that...
With Ellie heading back to school today after four fun-filled days off, I decided that Ethan and I should go have a little adventure. Also, by four fun-filled days off, I mean FOUR fun-filled days. She jam-packed a trip to the Red Barn Farm on Friday, Family pictures and a grocery shopping excursion on Saturday, church and a "date" with Mommy on Sunday, and a trip to the Weston Orchard with her cousins on Monday into those four days. Crazy busy, right? Anyway, I think she was probably more than happy to get back into the routine of school today after that weekend of hers.
Somewhat ironically, Ethan's and my morning out revolved somewhat around Ellie. After dropping her off, we continued on south towards downtown KC and Crown Center. Our mission? To obtain a free bag of craft supplies from Crown Center Customer Service for Ellie so that she could craft to her little heart's desire. It wasn't all about Ellie though as I had grand plans to take Ethan to Union Station. After all, I figured the little man would love to see some model trains. Our first stop though would be the Customer Service office.
Upon our arrival at Crown Center, the first thing I had to do was rouse poor Ethan from his cozy slumber in his car seat. Lately, we've been striving hard to eliminate his morning nap at all costs. Even a short thirty minute nap can have disastrous effects on his sleep that night. Fortunately, his car nap was only about ten minutes in length, if that. After waking Ethan, I stumbled across my first issue: his shoes were nowhere to be found!
While I grabbed Ethan's diaper bag before leaving home today, I somehow missing bringing his shoes along for the trip. I think there were several reasons for that error though. The main being that getting Ellie out the door for school with Ethan in tow can sometimes be difficult as I'm focused on other things. Since I didn't see Ethan's shoes before leaving, I simply assumed they were still in the car from our trip to Weston Orchard yesterday. WRONG!
Unfortunately, that mistake had consequences as it meant our trip to Union Station was off. After all, there's no way Ethan would allow me to carry him around all morning (nor would I want to). Also, him running around in just his socks may be frowned upon so we had to call that part of the trip a bust. It's ok though because we had crafts to get. Or so I thought...
As we headed into Crown Center, the first thing we had to do was find a map of the mall since I had no idea where Customer Service was. After locating our destination, we headed up the escalator and turned the corner only to find a still-closed office. With no hours listed, I had to resort to a quick online search to find out when it opened only to find "Customer Service opens when stores open for business for the day." Ok, that's clear, right? The next question was when do other stores open for the day. Believe it or not, this was a relatively difficult question to answer.
In an attempt to answer our quandary, I, with Ethan still in my arms, set out on a stroll around Crown Center to find either a store that was open or one that at least placed their hours of business on display in the window. At first glance, the chocolate store and Function Junction failed to provide the answers we sought. Therefore, we headed up the escalator to the Halls floor to see what we could find. There, we were met by a series of gates denying us entry to the store but unaccompanied by hours of business. We headed back downstairs and finally by a children's clothing shop that cared enough to list their hours of business which began at 11. With Ethan lacking shoes however, it was unlikely that we could find a way to kill an hour. So with that, we loaded up in the Traverse and headed home, sad and defeated.
Actually, as I ruminate on the experience for a brief moment, I realize it wasn't all bad. After all, we weren't in the Crown Center complex long enough to be charged for parking even though I couldn't find a soul to validate. I guess I can consider that a win, right? #DaddyWrite
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