Brake Check and Cinema

I took the our Honda Civic in to the car repair shop today to have the brakes looked at.  They have been screeching something awful for quite some time now and since we are planning a road trip for later in the week we wanted to make sure that everything was ship-shape.  They told me it would take "about an hour" to figure out the problem and then "maybe a little longer to fix it".  So I buckled Clara into her stroller and we walked over to the mall so she could run around the awesome play place there. 

Two hours later and I had a little girl who was starting to get sleepy and was plum-tuckered out from learning to climb up and down the slides.  We took a snack break and enjoyed a soft pretzel together and I was wondering when we were going to get the call that we could head over to pick up the car when Paul called to let me know that the car place had called him and the work that needed to be done was going to take at least TWO more hours.  Blargh.  And we weren't within a couple miles of the house or I would have just taken Clara home.

So we went to the movies. 

Clara has never been to the movies before.  I actually don't really let her watch t.v. much (although I will turn on Curious George or an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the mornings so that I can get her to sit still while I do her hair).  But, the thought of two more hours wandering around the mall with a tired 14-month-old who refuses to sleep in her stroller sounded awful.

Fortunately "Ice Age: Continental Drift" was just starting when I went to purchase tickets and we even got to see some of the previews.  Clara loved it.  Well, the first 2/3 of the movie at least.  She danced on my lap to the music, she pointed at the screen then looked at me with astonishment then looked back at the screen, she ate her movie snacks of blueberries and cheerios and chased it down with room temperature whole milk (gross), and generally she seemed to think it was a really cool flick.  The last third of the movie she got antsy and wanted to climb up and down the stairs in the theater and examine the floor lights that line the stairs, which I let her do since there weren't very many people at the matinee showing and most of the people there were kids anyway. 

It was actually a fun movie for a third or fourth sequel (one reason I was happy to see it is that I have seen the other Ice Age movies and I knew that it wouldn't be too intense or have scenes that I thought might scare Clara).  I forgot how hilarious that little squirrel is with his acorn obsession.  I wish there had been more Sid the Sloth in this one (and sat there thinking about how my sister, Jennie, used to do the BEST Sid the Sloth impression when she had braces).

By the time the movie got out, Clara was rubbing her eyes and yawning and the car STILL wasn't done, so I made a very bad decision and bought corndogs from Hot Dog on a Stick for dinner.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I think I was hypnotized by the brightly colored and totally embarassing uniforms they have to wear at that place and the thought of fresh-squeezed lemonade because lately I have been making good food decisions otherwise (case in point - I didn't buy any candy for the movies or get a Mrs. Fields cookie even though I really wanted to).  So Clara totally ate her first corndog for dinner after watching her first movie in a movie theater.  Clara salvaged the day by sucking down a squeezy-pouch of spinach & peas (she's my healthy little eater) but otherwise, today was a mom-fail kinda day. 

Finally after 5+ hours (and $500+ bucks later - grrrr, grumble, gnashing of teeth), the brakes were back in running order and I got to bring Clara home and put her to bed.  Poor little lady.  It was quite a day.