A Trip To The Frame Store should be simple. You take the goods to be framed, drive to the store, make your deal, and go home.

Not MY trip, though.

First I had to get in the car. This involved making sure everyone had dry diapers and that Nick had a sip cup of milk. Then I had to get Nick's coat from the laundry room - I washed it because he puked on it yesterday. It was dry, but it still smelled like puke. So I threw it back in the WASH pile and stuffed Nick in a coat some nice person had given us last fall - size 3 years. It's huge on him and hangs down to his knees, and will be great for next year, if not the year after that, but right now I might as well have put him in one of my coats.

Then we hopped in the car (one trip for Nick and the pictures, one trip for Nate and the diaper bag) and off we went to the Frame Store! When we got there the window was oddly dark. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS 9:15 IN THE MORNING! I forgot, in my infant filled life, that many people don't begin their days until 8am or so, and that many stores do not open until 10am. At least around here. So I was left to kill 45 minutes with two infants in my car.

First I went to Dunkin Donuts. I got myself a coffee and two donuts - one for me and one for Nick. Nick happily took half a donut and I promptly swallowed the other whole.

Next we drove to Mac's Apples. Mac's has ducks and goats year round. As we pulled in I got the bright idea to feed the ducks the other half of Nick's donut, as he really didn't want the half he was crumbling in his hand, and because if I didn't then I would eat it myself, and that would be too much. (I AM on a diet.) So the ducks got it. Then Nick caught sight of the goats and started yelling "BAA BAA! BAA BAA!" and I didn't have the heart to tell him they weren't sheep, but goats.

As soon as I took him out of the car the goats all jumped up on their hind legs with their front legs on the wire fence. Nicholas clung to be and started shaking. I think maybe he thought I was going to FEED him to the goats or something. After all, I fed his donut to the ducks. So we got back into the car. It was 9:25.

So I got the bright idea to get a car wash. Never mind that it's overcast and about to rain. Let's not let logic dictate my life. Once we got the the gas station I was so busy looking for the car wash entrance that I drove over the curb of the lane divider, announcing my arrival to everyone present, customers and employees alike. I then purchased $5 of gas for a $7 car wash. It took three whole minutes for the machine to spit out my receipt with the special car wash code on it. Once we were IN the car wash Nicholas started crying because he was scared.

Finally it was over. I am SO glad I got the car washed because I had forgotten what color it was (blue). And back to our original destination: THE FRAME STORE.

I spent way too much on getting these pictures framed - more than I thought it would be - and Steve doesn't know I took them there. PLEASE - nobody mention the new frames or the missing pictures to Steve! I'm really afraid of what he'll say when he finds out how much these cost. I feel a little justified because these are old photographs of HIS relatives, after all. Still, I'm hoping he won't notice the blank spaces on our walls or the chunk of money missing in our bank account. But the framing will actually take a couple of weeks, and he just might notice something before then. And I'll have to tell him.