The Missing Shoe...

You're probably wondering why there's a photo of a pair of shoes along with a lone shoe.  Well, there's a story behind that funny photo you see.  The photo is also a lesson in why you should never let your 3 year old hold the bag of with her new shoes in them as she rides in the stroller during the walk home from a shopping trip.

So, the story...

The weather was nice today and since it was Saturday, I decided to take Charlotte out with me shopping on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights.  I figured it was a good opportunity to get a good walk in, while spending time with Charlotte. Lately, I haven't been able to have one on one time with her because all of my attention has been focused on Logan.  We headed out around 10:15AM, leaving Allan home to take care of Logan.  The temperature felt pretty cold at first if you weren't walking in the sun, but it was still comfortable and by the time we got to the shopping district, I was all warmed up from the walk.

The purpose of this trip was to obtain three items: a Baptism outfit for Logan, a sweater to wear over Charlotte's dress that she will be wearing on Logan's Baptism, and new shoes for Charlotte.  I was only able to get two of out of the three items on the list.  Our first stop was The Children's Place in hopes I could find a sweater for Charlotte.  I didn't have any luck finding one. However, I did buy some long sleeve shirts for Charlotte to wear since she's in need of some.  Our next stop was Carter's and I didn't have any luck there either.  The sweater was either too pink or too red.  I was in need of a white or pink sweater, preferably white.

We headed down to Roosevelt Avenue towards the store that sold Baptism outfits for babies, the easiest purchase of the day. Charlotte and I were in and out of the store pretty quickly and we headed back towards 82nd Street and to Payless Shoe Source.  Charlotte was in need of a new pair of sneakers and a pair of dressy shoes to wear with her dress.  I don't know who was more thrilled at buying shoes, Charlotte or me.  I'd like to think me because I'd finally get her shoes that would fit without me guessing. But Charlotte was more excited because she was trying on new shoes and got to pick them out.  We ended up with a pair of Frozen sneakers and a pair of gold dressy shoes. After paying for the shoes, Charlotte wanted to them, so I handed her the bag and said to hold on tight to it.
She and I headed Burger King to eat some nuggets.  I wanted to treat her since she was such a good girl during this whole trip and didn't give me any trouble. We split an order of 10 nuggets and ate them pretty quickly. Afterwards, it was time for us to head home and we began our walk.  Charlotte wanted to hold onto to the bag of shoes, so I let her.  I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Well folks, something did happen.  During our walk home, it seems one of the gold shoes had fallen out of the bag and I didn't realize it until we got home and Charlotte was showing off her new shoes and there was only one gold shoe in the bag.  Uh oh... I would've retraced my steps, but it would be an awfully long walk and take too much time to retrace my steps in hopes of finding the lost shoe.

It was such a shame to have lost that shoe because they were so nice.  My brother had an errand to run with my mom, so I decided to join them and maybe we'd see the shoe on the ground as we drove back to Payless.  Still no luck there, so I went into the store hoping they had another pair of gold shoes in Charlotte's size.  Unfortunately, they didn't but another Payless did and it was the one at Queens Center Mall. The employee at the 82nd Street store was kind enough to call the Queens Center location and ask them to hold a pair of shoes in Charlotte's size for us.  We got to the other location and went straight to the register to let the employee know we were there to pick up a pair of shoes that were called about and told to be held.  The shoes were located and but they were the wrong size. Oh, great... I was beginning to lose hope of finding a new pair in Charlotte's size.  Instead of waiting for the employee to see if they had another pair, I went straight to the rack and there it was, a pair of the gold shoes in her size.  Too bad I had to pay slightly more than I paid for the first pair because they had been part of a BOGO (buy one, get one half off) special.  But in the end, I'm just happy I found another pair.

So what is the lesson I learned here?  Never let your 3 year old hold onto a bag with new shoes or else you'll only come home with a pair and a half.  I should've known better but Charlotte was so excited to get new shoes and I trusted her to hold the bag.  Next time, I'll make sure to hang all of my purchases off of the stroller.  Things seem more secure that way.

Lost shoe aside, I had a good time going shopping with Charlotte.  It was the first time in a long time we spent time together and the idea of shopping thrilled her to no end.  Not to mention, it made me happy too since I haven't been able to get out much unless it's to a doctor's appointment.

All in all, it was a good Saturday and I got a good workout too with all of the walking.