Roadtrip!

Yesterday was HOT.

Really hot.

In the afternoon, the living room was at least 80 degrees, and the twins were fussy from the heat.

Terri had a great idea -- why not take the girls down to the local mall, where it was air-conditioned? Walk them around, cool down, then have dinner at the Applebees inside the Mall.

Thus, began our first roadtrip as a family.

******************************

There were several advantages to taking our first roadtrip yesterday, as opposed to waiting until later:

1) My Mom is still staying with us, so for this first trip we enjoyed a 3 to 2 numerical advantage over the girls, while my Mom had experience in out-of-house trips.

2) The local Mall which was our destination is an OLD, TINY Mall -- i.e., it is empty most of the time. Our main concern with any outing is exposing our 3 week olds to too many people, and thus too many germs.

3) The Mall is only one mile from our house. Close enough to beat a hasty retreat if things go bad.

4) We had just fed the girls, so they were not due to be fed for another three hours. Also, they had kept awake fussing from the heat most of the day, so we had a good idea that if we got to the cool Mall, and kept them in their car seats, they would fall fast asleep.

********************************

Being paranoid first-time parents, we packed our travel baby bag long ago. We scooped it up, and added two bottles of emergency formula in a small travel cooler. We got the girls in their car seats, and we were off.

The drive to the Mall was uneventful, but when we parked our car in the parking lot, we hit our first minor snag. David had never read the instructions on the "Snap 'N Go" stroller, and had no idea how to lock the car seats in!

After about five minutes of trial and error with the Snap 'N Go, the car seats were secured in the stroller, and we headed into the Mall.

The Mall was wonderfully cool, and, as we expected, wonderfully empty.

We did one lap around the Mall, not really going into any stores, but just walking. It was great just to be out and about.

Lots of looks and comments from people about the twins. "Look, how cute! Twins!" I must have been radiating a warning scent, however, because no one tried to approach or touch the babies!

We sat down at the local Applebees and ordered dinner. Terri even got to order a virgin strawberry margarita! Heaven.

Applebees - Child Friendly!

Half way through dinner, Caroline woke up and started whimpering.

David left his meal (he ate fastest, anyway), and took the kids for another two laps around the Mall, while Terri and David's Mom finished their meal, packed up, and paid the bill.

A quick stop to Mrs. Fields for some cookies, then back to the car, and home!

All in all, a successful trip. Some R&R for Mommy, and a nice change of pace to the day.

The only failure -- no photos! We forgot to take the camera, so no shots of Terri gushing over her margarita.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

Katherine washing her hair.

A visit from Aunty Cindy & Aunty Penny