Trader Joe's Hijinks

Oh dear. Trying to go shopping with kids is always an adventure, for me anyway. Yesterday I planned an outing because I needed to pick up office supplies, home goods (such necessities of life as toilet paper and light bulbs), and a bunch of groceries to last us hopefully a couple of weeks. I planned to go a little further away to Trader Joe's because there's a good number of frozen items we get there that help with quick, almost instant meals that require no actual cooking. R was napping, so I took RUS with me thinking I'd be back around dinner time and J would get a decent window to get some work done at home.

Made it to Office Depot and thank goodness there was a Happy Harry's (Walgreens for those who don't live in this area) right next to Office Depot, so I snagged everything I needed aside from the groceries and was feeling like a rock star. RUS was being an angel, smiling and laughing at everything and waving at all the strangers in the store.

Then we went to Trader Joe's. I am always a little nervous before I get to Trader Joe's because ours is frequently super-busy and crowded. It really wasn't too bad this time at all! I got in, got everything I needed (and a few things I probably didn't really need, too) and checked out. I was super-impressed: I'd done all of this in record time and RUS was still happy as a clam enchanting everyone with his adorableness. Then I was loading up the car, putting the groceries in the trunk. . . and

I LOCKED THE KEYS IN THE TRUNK.

The whole car was locked up so I couldn't just hit the trunk release and open the trunk.

Thank goodness for awesome Trader Joe's employees who called AAA, and when AAA couldn't do it (the guy was 75 miles away and it was going to cost $200), he called a local locksmith who came and busted into my car for me for $65. I just had to hang around Trader Joe's for about 2 hours, which you know, there could be worse things. They gave me a bottle of water while I waited (a HUGE one, so awesome) and I fed RUS dinner from their sample station (he had about five sample helpings of Eggplant Parmesan Towers, which are actually pretty good). Once the car was open, I was able to ply him with animal crackers, and he conked out before we made it all the way home.

All's well that ends well, but I'm telling you, it takes serious concentration to (a) unload groceries; (b) keep track of your keys; (c) entertain your 16-month-old; and (d) prevent your cart from moving anywhere. In the past I've loaded RUS up in the car before unloading the groceries, and that is honestly probably the smart thing to do except when the cart won't stay put and starts to roll away from the car while you're putting the baby in the car. But if I had unlocked the car itself before putting groceries in the trunk, I wouldn't have spent $65 I didn't need to spend yesterday. Sigh!