When it Rains...

A few weeks back, the kids and I had gone to one of my MOPS meetings and were supposed to meet Mike for lunch afterward. As we got closer to the restaurant, I noticed that it had been raining in the area. I called Mike and he was very busy with accident calls from the rain so I told him we would just go to the toy store which was in the same parking lot as the restaurant. Sounds like fun, right?

Well, we went to the toy store and I stalled the kids as long as I could with playing in the ride-on vehicles and taking down and putting back all 67 stuffed animals on the shelf (thanks, Carolina). After several conversations with Mike, I realized that a lunch date with Daddy was not meant to be that day so I told the kids it was time to leave the toy store and head to lunch.

I had a couple of toys in the cart (clearance!) so we headed from the back of the store to the cashier with both kids screaming bloody murder. Every single person in the store stopped to watch as I passed by trying to push a cart with two kids trying to climb out of either side as they screamed (I wish I was kidding).

As I checked out, I looked out the front window to see that it was pouring so I asked the cashier to wrap all of the toy boxes in bags so at least something would be safe from the rain. Then as I headed to the automatic doors the manager explained that he had locked them because the rain was so strong that it kept making them open. He and the other employee suggested I wait for another 20 minutes or so for the rain to calm down before I went to the car. Yeah, right.

We stood politely in front of the doors for a couple of minutes making small talk (they kept saying it might be a tornado coming) and watching the rain. The kids were getting really restless and I was getting frustrated since our car was the very first car in the parking lot and was maybe 30 steps from the automatic doors. Finally, I said I couldn't wait anymore and asked if he would unlock the doors for me.

I put Clay in the cart and held Carolina in my arms as we ran to the car pushing the cart. Within seconds, I knew it. I should have just waited the 20 minutes in the store. I was as wet as if I had just jumped into a pool (with all my clothes on). I flung Carolina's door open and shoved her in her seat only to hear Clay screaming as the cart rolled through the parking lot with him in it. I shut her door and chased the cart-- catching him a couple of cars away (no one was driving around at this point because of the weather).

I pulled him out of the cart and stuffed him in the car as fast as I could (as he screamed). I pushed the cart to the back of the car and opened the hatch to put all of the toy bags in. As I opened the hatch, I realized that the third row seat was up and the stroller and some bags came flying out at me and fell all over the ground.

As I scramble to pick up the stuff from the ground, I hear the lady screaming at me from the automatic door and I turn to hear her saying, "Your cart! Your cart!" Where was my cart? Oh, it had rolled all the way across the parking lot and stopped in the cart return. Fun. So I ran to get it (in my dress and flip flops) and realized that all the toy bags were on the ground from the impact of it hitting the cart return.

It was still raining harder than I've ever felt in my life and I finally got all the bags loaded in the third row and the cart returned (backing over a cart was the last thing I needed right then). I leaned back and buckled the kids in and Clay is still crying and panicking. All this time when I was getting kids in and loading up the car there were barely any words exchanged. I was totally focused on getting everyone in the car. He kept saying, "I'm all wet! Mommy's all wet!" Poor guy, he had never seen anything like all that rain and chaos.

I called Mike one last time to confirm that he wouldn't make lunch but at this point I don't even know where we would have gone. We looked like drowned rats. We were just a couple of miles from home but I was still a little nervous about driving the kids since I knew about all the accidents happening (the joys of being a cop's wife).

I headed to a drive-thru around the corner and thought we could just have a little picnic in the car and wait for the rain to settle down. Beeeeep! The gas light went off--9 miles to empty. So much for waiting in the car for the rain to settle down, huh?

We pulled into the drive-thru which was super crowded. I guess everyone had the same idea. I was so excited to see that they had a covered awning to order under...until I ordered. The rain was so strong that it still blasted through as I ordered. I got my order done (fast!) and pulled up to wait in the line.

I was so happy to finally have ordered some food and that the car was all settled down with kids warming up and watching their movie. I reached down to get my purse to pay. That's when I realized my purse was in the toy bags...in the third row. So, in my dress I tried as gracefully as I could to lunge back and dig through the bags to get my purse out..until I kicked the horn. I can only imagine what that poor person in front of me must have been thinking when he looked in his rear view. Oops.

We got through the line, paid, got some gas and headed home. Finally, the rain slowed down. I love the rain (most of the time) so I was really sad that Clay was so upset by it. We started talking about his new rain gear and how fun it would be to put it on when we got home. His sad face was finally turning happy!

We got home, I ran inside and put all the food in the microwave so we could eat after our rain play and grabbed all the kids rain gear. I got Clay out first, dressed him in his rain boots, raincoat and gave him his umbrella. He was very excited. About the time I got Carolina out and got her rain gear on I could hear him fussing at me. He had fallen in the mud and wanted to go inside. Really??

Later that night when Mike came home, I thought we could give it one more try with the rain boots. 'Cause who doesn't like puddle jumping?

(If you look close enough you can see how sweet girl was checking herself out in all of the puddles!)





And the little boy who cried so much about being wet? He couldn't splash enough in those puddles!