Mall with Daddy

Here is a special edition from Steve. Prepare to LAUGH :)

(PS - this was only a 20 minute long excursion)

So we had this great idea to go to Des Moines for the afternoon. And to save some time we thought that I would be dropped off at Helzbergs in the Mall to get our rings cleaned and Jen would go to Once Upon a Child. We knew we couldn't leave Aubrey in the car watching Dora, so she went with me.

As soon as I stepped foot in the mall with Aubrey in my arms, she started throwing a fit because she wanted to walk.  So I put her down and she then proceeded to run all through Younkers.  

Then it was time to go upstairs and she LOVED the escalators. When we got to Helzbers, I give them the rings. They found out that Jen's center stone was very loose so they had to send it in.  Meanwhile, Aubrey is still continuing to want to run all over the mall while I was trying to take care of business at Helzbergs. 

As soon as we left the store, I noticed there was an odor coming from Aubrey. I said, "Are you poopy?" Aubrey then proceeded to lay herself down in the middle of the walkway ready to be changed. Unfortunately, that is not a good place to chance a diaper and I also did not have any supplies for diaper changing as Jen had them with her. So we continued our mall walk (and by walk, I mean RUN) with a text from Jen saying she had about 15 minutes left at her store. 

She ran past this old couple who was definitely "mall walking" and the older woman said, "Oh, she is faster than we are!" She continued to run past every store barely looking in until she comes to this bridal store that had ring bearer suits and flower girl dresses. She decided to run into that store and HUGGED the trio of mannequins on both sides, including one without a head. At that point, I said it is time to leave the store.

So we ran clear to the other end of the mall where we decided to go downstairs and upstairs and downstairs  again via the escalators. While we were downstairs, she continued to feel the need to run and run all past all kinds of stores, until she thought she had to do some shopping.  This time she decided not to use the door but tried to run RIGHT THROUGH THE GLASS! Now, with a crying poopy daughter and nothing to comfort her, we found the waterfalls in the middle of the mall that was soothing to her that she loved looking at. 

Finally, I got a text from Jen that said she was on her way to get us. So, I said, "Let's go find Mommy!" So that meant Aubrey continued running through the mall shouting, "Mommy, where are ya?!" And this time as we went back through Younkers she thought she needed to touch everything we walked/ran by. 

Finally we made it out of the mall and got the diaper changed. Then we could continue on with our evening with the three of us. Next time, when we pick up Jen's ring, it will be a trip without Aubrey or Mommy comes along too.