Costco

My kids love Costco just as much as I love it. Now that they are 12 and 10 my Costco trips have become much easier. It's always an event going there with them.

Being the smart mama that I am (Toot! Toot! That's my own horn going off), I always got the industrial, flat bed carts to do my shopping with my children. It was a fun ride for them to sit on the cart. One time, I had to purchase a ginormous (Is that a word?) dog bed, and since it was fresh and clean, I had my adorable children--who were roughly, together, ginormous dog bed sized--ride on it all throughout the Costco aisles. I think they ended up imagining it was a ship and they were navigating the open ocean. Every once in a while, they would come back to my reality when they saw a food item they particularly wanted, and they would brave the open ocean to swim out and get it and return to my cart.

My last trip to Costco was much more helpful to me, though. They still rode on the cart. They are quickly outgrowing it, but still figure out ways to stack the boxed goods and sit on it like a thrown, and they figure out ways to not get burned by the rotisserie chicken. But, now, they are old enough to be trusted to go to different aisles without me and look for foods that I forgot. I can even trust them to each go in separate directions and know that they will not be kidnapped. So. Helpful.

Now, if you haven't had the Costco cheese pizza fresh from their snack area--that's where it's at!! After a long shopping session, if I have the energy to wait for a pizza to be cooked, I do that. With the kids being just the right age, though, I can leave Aidan waiting in line to get checked out while Alafair and I place the order for the pizza, then we countinue to pay for our groceries. Aidan can wait in line for the pizza while Alafair and I load the van. Team work makes the dream work.

To top it off, the kids are realizing the beauty that I find in Costco. For instance, I love when I get to the cash register, and the friendly Costco employee tells me that I actually get two items on that day, and they will gladly run back to get me my other item. Our last trip to Costco, Aidan was very happy to get a pack of bagels. He knew he had cream cheese waiting on him in the refrigerator at the house, and dreams of toasted bagels were swimming through his head. Then, when he got to the register, the Costco employee told him that he actually was able to get two bags of bagels at no extra charge, and ran back to get the other one for Aidan. Aidan's eyes were glowing when he told me about that extra bonus when I got in line to pay.

If you haven't been to Costco, it's a pretty magical place, y'all.