Black Friday 2015

Yesterday, was a very low-key Black Friday after a wallop of a Thanksgiving. The kids were up until 10:00 (!!!) with no naps, so the next morning was a little...um....how can I say this in a public forum such as the inter webs....bat $h!t crazy. The kids were acting like contestants from the show American Gladiator or extras from the set of any disaster movie--hands flung in the air, screaming at the top of thier lungs as though sprinting through the streets of a modern-day metropolis, fleeing a green screen baddie. They would have reluctantly but easily crashed for naps at 10:00 am, but we decided to go down for a walk on the beach to kill some time and get some fresh air, but the full moon tide left little beach to stroll on and the wind that has been whipping steadily for the past four days--ever since a so-called-cold front blew threw--had stripped any warmth from the condo pool. Everyone slept eventually. Elise decided to forego a trip to the mall for time on the couch. 

After naps, it was close to dinner so we decided to grab a bite of Mexican--free chips and salsa and tequila-less Margs as large as our heads. It's Peter's favorite and he packed away an entire steak enchilada. After dinner, the kids' interest was picqued by a gumball machine at the entrance to the restaurant. Only having seen one other before, a miniature gumball machine Elise has in her office (I'm not even sure if it works), they knew what it was, but had never had gum before.

A girl was plugging quarters into the gumball machine and the other vending machines that were selling a variety of plastic chachkies, so the kids asked us if we had any coins. Elise did. She had a one rupee coin and a five rupee coin. Neither fit into the machine. We tried.

I found a dollar in my wallet and sent Sam to the hostess stand in search of change. They got the quarters and put them into the gumball machine. 75 cents later, they had three gumballs, their first. We repeatedly emphasized the importance of not eating the gum. I may have even passed along the old wives tale that gum sits in your stomach u digestised for seven years.

The gumballs were so big all three looked and sounded as though they were chewing cud. I had to bite Clementine's gumball in half. It was amazing in that few could probably remember the first time they chewed gum, but they had never been exposed to bubblegum before. 

Needless to say. Peter's gum fell out of his mouth in the parking lot a few minutes later which precipitated a torrent of tears.