Friday, cont'd

12:05 PM:  Lunch

Rather uneventful dining experience ... for us.

First off, Zadie is so ready for solid foods.  We have been giving her some rice cereal, but to watch her while we eat makes you feel a little sad for the girl.  She will watch the plate come to the table.  She fixates her gaze on the plate, only breaking the stare to watch expectantly as each bite of food is taken by the plate’s owner, wondering when one of the bites might head her way.  I am proud to announce that she now is the proud owner a variety of strained vegetables for her dining pleasure.

At one point during the buffet experience, Julie went to the buffet alone.  Doing something alone is not something that is usually well received in our family.  It was fine for a moment, but before I could realize it, Zane had dropped below the table and escaped past the high chair blocking the end of the booth.  Where Zane goes, typically Zoe follows, so she was down and gone now too.  I jumped up to grab them, but only got a hold of Zane before I heard the clank of silverware hitting the floor.  Zadie had reached a napkin that had a set of silverware on top, pulled it to her and was gnawing on the napkin as I returned to the table with Zane.  Zoe had successfully escaped.

As told by Julie, "I had my plate full of delicious meatballs, ready to race back to the table, as I am always in a race to eat before someone melts down.  And, in typical Julie fashion I didn't look where I was going, bumped into the bar and lost half my meatballs on the ground.  I saw a worker and started telling her that I made a mess and I was sorry.  I was interrupted by another worker saying with a panicked demeanor, "don't worry about that, is this your daughter?"  I quickly and with a dismissive tone replied 'No'.  But on further inspection, actually taking the time to look down replied rather sheepishly, "actually it is".  Then I turned around got more meatballs and went back to the table with Zoe in tow.

1:15PM:  Leave in the direction of home.  

Now, one thing that I left out was that on the way out of the park, Julie and I played through the charade for Zack's benefit, which we would possibly return after lunch.  We even had everyone get stamped for return.  Sometime during lunch, I broke it to him that we would not be returning to Carowinds today, but that we would come back again soon.  There was a little disappointment, but he took it fairly well.  A back story; Zack made up a song that he sings to Zadie when she is upset, "It's OK, It's alright, you will feel better in a minute."  It continues like that for a few verses, then it changes to, "It's OK, It's alright, you feel better, because a minute is over." (He is very literal)  Well yesterday, as we were leaving the restaurant, it was changed to, “It’s ok, it’s alright, we'll return to Carowinds in a minute."  I don't remember the exact words, but as he continued, it was pretty obvious the song was aimed at Julie and I, and it did not have the best of intentions.  We had a short talk on gratefulness.  It should have been longer, but I am getting ahead of myself. 

1:45 PM: Target stop (of course)

Diapers, baby food, paper towels, and chap stick/lip stick for Zoe (this is to stop her habit of using the sunscreen stick on her lips).  I went in by myself and it is amazing how fast I can move through that store without the brood in tow.  

2:15PM:  Pull into driveway

Old Navy was having a 30% off everything sale this weekend and we had just purchased some things there a few nights ago.  They said they would adjust our purchase for the sale and of course a few of the things had to be returned.  Julie was going to go alone but I suggested, in my infinite wisdom, that we should all go.  I would drop her at Old Navy and then we would run across the street to Lowe's and get the mulch to finish a landscaping project.  

Turns out, it wasn't quite that simple and the day was only just beginning ...