By this point of the summer, I am usually pulling my hair out. The kids are starting to argue more. The constant noise is grating on my last nerve. The house is trashed. It's time for a change of scenery.
Yesterday that change of scenery came in the form of a mini Swedish vacation. Yes, I'm talking about Ikea. I love Ikea. It's not about the mass produced ceramic mugs or the cheap sofas, although those things are great. The things I'm most in love with are the free childcare and the ability to have a crazy shopping spree for $10.
If you've ever been to an Ikea without children you probably don't know that it's a parents escape paradise. You walk in, hand your children over to the smiling girls in the yellow shirts, and are free to shop at a snails pace for the next hour. Then because everything is so cheap you can justify filling the shopping cart that you are idly leaning on and feel like you've been on an outrageous shopping spree. That is my idea of stress relief.
The boy has outgrown the play area. So after we dropped the overly excited girls off (they love the ball pit and the wooden shoe slides) we bought a box of cookies and walked around laughing at funny products and funny people. We shopped for a future cousin in the baby section and laughed at funny looking stuffed animals. We lounged on sofas and hugged super soft pillows. We just talked for an hour. It was lovely.
When the hour was up, we went back to get the girls, who were sad to leave. Then we walked up to the restaurant and ordered four 99cent bowls of meatballs. We found a table and sat back to watch the movie that was playing.
I'm telling you, mini-Swedish-vacation. That's what it is. We all left much more relaxed than when we left. In fact, we were all so happy when Steven got home that he said he felt like he had been seriously deprived of some good leisure time.
Don't worry, honey, we'll all happily go back. It might be a happier place than Disney World. Ok, that might be stretching it. But it runs a close second in my book.
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