When you take 6 kids to the grocery store

When  you take 6 kids to the grocery store... unexpected things can happen. Really unexpected things!

Saturday night 5pm

We load everyone up, got to the store, start unloading. I realize I forgot socks for the girls and I was planning on wearing them in the sling and pouch so no socks=no good. I figure we won't be in there too long and I can use my scarf around their feet if they get cold. We all make it through the parking lot... we're getting stares already. We get inside, it had been raining so the carts are wet and I soaked the bottom of my pants walking through the parking lot. I hate that!!

Right then and there I should have known this was going to turn out very badly! Ha!

The little boys wanted the 'car' cart... Ozzie and Gavin piled into the little car, with Vance and Gavin taking turns riding on top of the car. Grayson and Vance walked and I carried the girls... one in the meeup and one in the maya wrap. And Dad pushed the cart. It's only seconds before we are stopped for our first round on comments and questions. I was trying to keep everyone moving... we HAD to get through the store before something bad happened. You know, the melt down, asking if we're almost done, starting to eat the food, ect.

Fast forward an hour and a half... we're ALMOST done. We've talked with over a dozen people, opened 2 bottles of water, avoided any fits, tantrums, fighting.... it's going good. Slow, but good. The cart was full.... I mean REALLY full! I had already grabbed 3 bags of apples but decided to grab another so we swing back by the apples I pick up 2 more bags and as soon as I set them in the cart everything went black.

The ENTIRE store was pitch black... it was dark outside... there were NO lights anywhere. I immediately reach out to touch each kid, thank goodness they were all within arms length. Paul and I instruct them to stay where they are, in the 'car' or holding onto the cart. We didn't move... we weren't sure where to go. We literally could not see ANYTHING. A minute later the lights came on and we all let out a big sigh and started walking towards the front. We took 2 steps and the lights went off again. This time with a obvious let down of the generator. I think we both knew the lights were not going to come back on. Remembering the path we were on Paul started leading us towards the front slowly. I kept talking to all the kids to make sure they were still there. It was freaky... those big buildings don't have windows so without lights it was a complete black out. We could hear other people talking quietly, wondering what was going on. You could hear carts moving slowly, with lots of pauses in between steps.

After what felt like 30 minutes we made it to the front. They had opened the front doors and the moonlight was the only light. Everyone was frozen, not sure what to do, wondering if or when the lights would come back on. A few people left, then more followed, we wanted to leave but we didn't want to leave all of the food that we had just worked so hard for. 2 hours, six kids, $300 worth of food. Plus we NEEDED some of that food that night. We waited around for 30 more minutes... we kept hoping that the lights would come back on. But they didn't and it was getting cold. So we all shuffled out of the dark store... the boys were bummed... we were all hungry and worn out and we had no food!

We went and picked up subway and the boys ate in the car while I ran into another grocery store to get the must haves. On our way back home we called the store to see if by any chance they had the power on and hadn't put our food away yet... we were already dreading doing it all over again the next day. They did have back up power on and our food was not put away but they had closed down for the night. Bummer!! Oh and right before we were done, I had given my list to Gavin, you know, since I wouldn't need it again! So the next day we went to the store again {different store}, with only 4 kids this time and no list, and spent $340. 

I think I'm ready for a break from the grocery store now! {grin} Except it's been a week and time to go back again! I think I might go alone this time so I can speed through before something bad happens! Ha!