The Balloon Saga

Our tale begins with an expedition to the store. This can be an onerous chore with kids, and today was going to be one of those days. They did NOT want to go.

After begging, bribing and forcing them into clothes, coats and shoes; it was time for the dreaded carseat.

While I was struggling to get the little one strapped down in his carrier (don't let those blue eyes and that grin fool you- he's a tornado!), Shane escaped.

In a normal driveway, or at a normal house, that wouldn't be cause for dismay. But just out our back door is a feild, a playground, and a patch of trees that are so much fun...

Eeney, meeny, miney, moe... where did that little boy go?

To make a medium story shorter- we found him in the sand pit.

When was the last time you had to tear a little boy away from some seriously dirty fun? Nothing doing!

Half an hour later, we were reluctanly on our way; under the condition that we go to 'the balloon store' (one of the local grocery stores occasionally has free balloons for the kids that come in).

We make it through our shopping trip which was full of sleeping babies, admiring shoppers, crying babies, upset demanding boys, wandering feet, and the end of many ropes.

And we get the balloon. It's blue and Shane is getting a kick out of watching it bob above his head. That is, up until I grab it to get through the revolving door.

Talk about a FIT!

When we get outside, I give him a quick run down on how he needs to hold tight to his balloon or it will fly away. Ready? Set? Hold on tight! ... ... ... Bye balloon!

Shane was shocked. That'd never happened to him before. As we watched it bob off in the wind... across the parking lot... over the trees... out of sight. We discussed what had happened and why. Then we got buckled into the car.

It was then that Shane discovered that he had no balloon to show for the doings of the day. Oh the pitifulness in his 'please'.

I ran back in (yes, it's illegal to leave the kids alone in the car :P ) and came out with a Red balloon. The whole ride home, Shane talked about the blue balloon flying away. We even took a bit of a movie of it for the Grandparents if they want to see it.

And so ends the day in the life of a 3 year old boy.