House of the Chubby Butterfly: Day 2: All The Lovely Children

The next day we arrived bright and early at Sally's school. I was to run errands for her, then meet her back at school to help with the afternoon class. Here she is at school.

She asked me to pay her car insurance, exchange the two left boots she bought at Mervyn's for a left and right, then run to McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich and bring it to her at school by 10:30. This should have been easy.

I went to the insurance office and walked past 5 or 6 cars in the parking lot full of people waiting for the office to open, then tried to jerk open the LOCKED door right next to the sign stating they opened at 9:00 (it was 8:45).

D'oh.

These pictures were taken in the parking lot...until people started to stare.

Waiting in the parking lot was boring, so I went to the mall and did THE SAME THING to the door (still wasn't 9:00). By the time I had driven back to the insurance office it was 9:00, so I paid the premium and went back to Mervyn's for the boots. I entered upstairs and looked in vain for the shoe department (please note I have visited this store many times in the past). I went down the escalator and looked there, then noticed the directory on the wall. The shoe department was upstairs, right next to the escalator.

Agh.

I left the mall and headed for McDonald's. I KNEW where the McDonald's was. I KNEW how to get there. I really did! All you have to do is exit the mall, go down the street and turn left. I KNEW this. I exited the mall, went down the street and promptly turned right...headed straight for the freeway. Great. Somehow I made it back to that intersection and drove AGAIN into the right turn lane! After a few expletives, I jerked the car (my cousin's car) into reverse and plowed backwards, twisting into the left turn lane. I glanced over to the left as the car came to a stop.

I was right in front of her classroom windows.

Thank God she's too short to reach them.

After this, everything went smoothly. The very last errand went smoothly. I helped in her class after that, the children were cute and it was a fun time - for a little while anyway (read: NOT GOOD WITH KIDS). They went home around 2:30 and I was drained. My cousin was bouncy with plenty of energy. I think she's bionic or something.

Here are a few more pictures from the day. This is the hallway in a typical open-air plan most California schools have.

Here is Sally's class room. Isn't it cute?

Here is the tricycle track on the Kindergarten playground. Children like to pedal with all their might to the top of the track by the gate, then take their feet off the pedals and BLAST down the hill, wiping out at the bottom. Kids are weird.