Late Night Shopping Trip

A while ago I ordered shoes for Zusha from Land's End. The problem was that they didn't indicate anywhere on their website, but these were really slippers, not shoes. Of course I planned to return them. Zusha doesn't keep slippers on for more than ten seconds, and even if he did, slippers for $17.50 is more than I can afford. The return fee would've been $6.50, but they wrote on the order slip that I can return their merchandise to Sears.
Great! Sears is pretty close to me, and it's an opportunity for some great sales, so I decided to go.
The reason I couldn't get to it until today is that they usually close at 9 pm, and by the time I get the kids to sleep, there is very little time to get ready, travel there, and actually have time to browse around. But this week they're open until 11 pm, so I grabbed the chance.

The kids went down for a nap late on Shabbos afternoon and slept for a very long time. We woke up only right before Hillel came home from shul. So I figured, everyone is well rested, Shabbos just finished, Sears is open late... let's go for it!
We made havdala, I got Zusha and myself ready, and we went.

We were waiting for the bus that only comes every half hour...

Finally I saw it coming. Zusha got so excited! The bus was so fast, it didn't seem like it would stop at the bus stop. I even put out my hand to make sure he noticed me. He sped right past and stopped in front of two people who were standing about 10 feet past the bus stop. I started walking towards the bus, but when the people motioned to the driver that they're not waiting for the bus, he just pulled out and continued on. I was so mad! It's not like he didn't see us, it's not like the bus was too full...
Zusha was on the verge of tears, and I was angry that now we'd have to wait another 30 minutes!

So we decided to go to the pizza shop right near the bus stop. To make Zusha feel better, I told him that the driver in that bus was a very bad and mean man to do something like this, and we don't want to go in a bus with a bad man. Then I ordered him a slice of pizza and a milkshake. (YUM!)

We finally got on the next bus, and Zusha couldn't have been happier.

We got to Sears, and Zusha couldn't get enough of the escalators. We even had to leave the stroller by the bottom of the staircase so we can go riding up and down and up and down and up and up and down...

We got these pajamas for only $7. They had sizes that would even fit me! I would've bought more, even bigger sizes for Zusha, but when he'll be night-trained it will be a big problem. So we stuck with size 5, for later this winter and next winter.

Then I bought two bath towels for $4 each:

When we left Sears, I saw a sign in the parking lot that it is for Sears and several other stores, including Old Navy. I never knew we had an Old Navy so close! So I looked around a little and I saw it! It was still open (it was 10:30 already!), so we went quickly.
I was so unpleasantly surprised by the store. It was a huge mess, clothes in piles and all over the floor. It was poorly lit and looked like a dreary warehouse. They also had punky rock n roll music BLARING. It was so loud that I had to scream to communicate with Zusha. Once a song finished while I was talking, and I sounded so ridiculous shouting in the silence.

It doesn't really matter anymore because I came out with a few good purchases.

I tried to find pictures of my purchases on the stores' websites, but it seems like almost all the things I bought were sold out online.
I got this sweater for Gedalya. It was the only picture I was able to find on their website.

I got a co-ordinating sweater for Zusha, too:

Then I got a white, long-sleeved t-shirt for each of them, which I didn't bother photographing because, well, they're just white, long-sleeved t-shirts.

I also found a winter coat for Zusha for next year:

It's faux layered, making it look like there's a grey sweatshirt underneath, but it's really sewed on.

And lastly, I got these socks for 87 cents.

We got home at 11:45, and Gedalya was still up! I put them to bed right away. Gedalya fell asleep at 12:00 and Zusha at 12:30.
Today they slept until 10:15. :)