At the Mall (Again)

Twice within a week.

I took two nine year old girls, a soon-to-be eleven year old girl and a one soon-to-be twelve year old girl to the Mall today. Shopping. After having not set foot in a Mall for years, I now have done it twice in one week. This is a pattern that, I hope, will stop soon.

I let the two older girls wander off to explore the Mall. Good Concow children; they rarely visit the artificial consumeristic world of the Indoor Mall. Kylie wanted her haircut. Did that (quite short). One of Kylie's friends came back with a pair of artificial fangs. She likes them. Makes her teeth look big.

I took the two smaller ones on an exploration of J.C. Penney, Foot locker and a bunch of other places looking for shoes. Boots, really. Jazzy finally settled on a pair of psychedelic slip on sneakers at Vans. Bought them.

I was proud of Kylie when she told her friends we should eat at "In and Out" burgers: "They have fresh food, not frozen like those other restaurants---and they try to get the food from local suppliers", she said. Good girl. And so Taco Bell (or Taco Smell, as we call it) was canned---and the fresh burger place was what was chosen. Burgers, Fries, Shakes for all!

We had fun riding the escalator up, then around and through the household furnishings of J.C. Penney, only to ride the escalator down again. Repeat six times.

A security guard looked at me with a quizzical look on his face on about our fifth trip.

So was it a lot of walking? Yes. Try following two enthusiastic nine year olds at the Mall. They act like Sailors on Liberty.

An idea: Malls should have a place where you can stop and get a shot of something strong (whiskey, tequila) while shopping. It'd make the whole experience a bit more pleasant. Locate them right next to the Orange Julius or the Sbarro.

But it was a good day. A day to be savored.