Mall visit and Gymboree play time

That's right, I went to the mall with the kids.  I needed to buy a pair of cycling shorts (the padded spandex kind) because I've joined a group of faculty at USCL that get together for bike rides and after Friday's ride--I understood the need for padded biking shorts.  I really needed them before the next ride so I read about a store called REI and everyone raved about their cycling department.  I recalled seeing this store by the mall so I headed there with the kids.  Within 3 minutes of walking into the store I had found what I was looking for on the clearance rack- $12 biking shorts: yes please!  I had no idea they can be super expensive. There were $110 cycling capris on the rack.
Anyhow--since I got myself and the boys ready- they looked pretty cute in their matching outfits- I decided I couldn't just go back home so I gave the mall a shot.  I thought I'd stop in and see if they had any sales in the kids departments/stores.  I didn't have anything to look for in particular other than maybe short sleeve/shorts pijama sets for Gavin since we're getting into warm weather now.  There were no sales and no pijamas either.  It was a waste.  I'm just NOT a mall person.  I felt like I was just wasting time, walking around with no purpose, dragging the kids along.  I can't shop just to shop.  I have to have something specific that I need to find and then, maybe then I can tolerate the mall.  But even then I hate that I have to walk up and down it to find a store that MAY carry what I'm in need of.  I prefer online shopping or picking up stuff at Target.
While I wandered, I did discover that there is an inside play area at this mall that's pretty cute.  They also have a few "rides", the .25 cents car rides (or in this case $1.00).  So I stopped by there so Gavin could play a bit. Out of all the choices that were available he just wanted to ride the Nascar looking car.  There was a porsche on the other side but he was not interested, he waited his turn for the Nascar ride....that was $1.00 while the others were .50 or .75 cents. :)  So, of course, after one ride he quickly said "I want to do that again".  $3 later he was satisfied and moved on.  We were both done with the mall.

I looked at the clock and realized that we were in time for open play at Gymboree so we headed there.  At open play, Liam gets to play too.  It was nice for him because we were the ONLY ones at Gymboree for an hour.  Gavin doesn't like that b/c of course he wants to see his "friends" but it was great for Liam because he could practice his crawling without bigger kids getting in his way AND on really soft foam mats that didn't hurt him when he fell.
Here's Liam having some fun....

He liked hitting the balls