superman and the pink balloon

Call us crazy, but we thought it might be fun to relax Saturday evening by going shopping as a family at the Jeffersonville Outlet Mall....with three children five and under. :-) The kids were pretty patient as we perused through Pottery Barn {found a giant pillow for $9.00 - score!} and looked at things that were mostly uninteresting to them. Frederick did find a box of soccer balls and wanted to play a game in the store. Time to go. Next, we stopped by Old Navy because the outlet store is 40% off everything, even clearance. Awesome! We found coats for next year for $6.00 and under. That is cheaper than Goodwill, and they are brand new.

As we were checking out, the cashier gave Elauna the last balloon he had...and it was pink. She was so excited. The cashier must not have known too much about children, because when you have 2 sets of eyes staring at you, you can't give just ONE balloon. Poor Frederick. He came running to me with those big eyes full of tears, wondering why they didn't have any more balloons. Thankfully, there was this sweet girl who works at Old Navy standing nearby. She quietly told me they had balloons in the back, asked me if he would like one and what color. I said that would be very nice. She returned with three different colored balloons and gave Frederick his choice....blue. He was ecstatic! You would have thought he had won a special award. His face beamed and he and Elauna danced in the checkout line. These balloons were their prized possessions!

We headed outside because it was getting late and Jeremy had one more place to stop. Elauna stopped quick and said, "Oh no, Mommy, my balloon." Apparently when they blow them up they do not tie them. They simply loop the end through the holder on the stick. I tied a knot in the balloon and reattached to her stick. Then I tied Frederick's balloon too. We trotted on down to the next store. A lady asked Elauna if she wanted to share her balloon.....no, she didn't. At least she was polite when she answered the lady. :-)

All done shopping. It was freezing cold and windy and we were ready to head home. We walked across the parking lot towards our pickup parked in the last row. Blustery....brrr. I was pushing the stroller, Frederick on my right, Elauna on my left. The wind was so strong and I looked at Frederick holding tight to his balloon. I asked to hold his balloon because for a half second I had this horrid thought of losing that precious balloon. Shame on me for thinking that, because as I turned to get Elauna's balloon.........away it went. In a flash, it was floating across the pavement with a big gust of wind. Her little heart stopped. "NO!" Her eyes welled up with tears. There was no way I would ever catch it. I looked up and there was my superhero husband running......very fast.....across the parking lot to save his daughter's pink balloon. He caught it. I am STILL amazed.