Our Family Shopping Trip

The weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving our family has gone on an annual shopping trip for about 35 years. It started out when Vickie and I were little, and our Mom's would take us shopping in downtown Indianapolis.  We would go to different places every year.  Sometimes we went to Greenwood, one time we went on a bus trip to Chicago, and sometimes Indy.  Somehow, it ended up being tradition to go to Ft. Wayne, spend the night, and wear matching sweatshirts.  And two posts back you can see pictures of us through the years.   It was fun, although we missed Mom and Gloria, who decided not to go this year. 

 OH MY...SCARY CLOSE-UP PIC!  ha ha

I think it's become a tradition for me to tease Vickie by sending her a picture of me eating her favorite Dan's Donut!  Theresa comes to my house first, and she stops on the way to get Dan's Donuts. Well, I had texted her that morning several times, starting at 6:15.  Vickie and I decided we should leave a little bit later  because the weather was freezing rain.  Bleh! on this weather.  It was supposed to warm up by 7:00 am, but Theresa never looked at her texts. So she got to our house early.  So we decided we had time to sit and eat a donut before we left.  

We haven't had a car picture taken in quite some time.  Off we go!

 As you can see, I'm driving....which sucked because on the way home it was raining so hard I could barely see the road.

 

 First stop....Dick's sporting goods.  We had to send Mom a pic because as we all know...she, "likes looking at Dick's."  I know I know...But we still tease her about saying that last year. 

 Love this picture of my Sister trying on a head band!

Theresa and I decided to take a selfie in front of the huge Christmas tree they have, then we decided, let's take a group pic in front of it, so everyone can see our new sweatshirts!

   As you saw from two posts back, we all had matching sweatshirts over the years.  Well, a couple of years ago, when Mom stopped going, we decided to stop doing the matching sweatshirts.  It was fun when there were seven of us, and even six, because it looked like we were part of a group.  But now that there are only four, we decided to just wear "normal" clothes.  Ashley had sent us a text a few days before the trip telling us we were going to be so jealous of her new sweatshirt she was going to wear.

 

Then the day before, she texted us and said she went back and bought us all one to wear.  Ohhhh nooooo.....Ugly Christmas Purdue faux' sweater sweatshirts! 

When we left the outdoor mall (Jefferson Pointe) we went to check into our room.  I gave them all a little winter survival bag.  The bags had wine glasses with a crocheted scarf around the stem, (that's who I was making the scarves for a couple of posts back) some Ghirardelli chocolate, and two little bottles of wine.  

(Vickie)

(her daughter, Ashley)

And my Sister, Theresa.

We ate lunch at a cute Mexican Restaurant, after driving this way and that to find it!  Ashley said go one way, Vickie said go another way, Theresa was the one that told us about it, but she had no idea how to get there!  She just knew it was "behind the mall and had cute mariachi statues in front of it!" 

After lunch we went to the indoor mall and had our pic taken with Santa.  Good Lord no wonder we didn't get much shopping done!

That evening we went to our room around 9:00ish and we got out our snack (dinner) foods.  We had all pitched in and brought stuff to eat.  Ring bologna, sandwich spread, crackers, cheese, nuts, chocolate, biscoff, and chex mix.  What is it about food like that, that you can't stop eating.  And I JUST NOW REMEMBERED I HAVE BISCOFF!!!!! Hold on........ahhhh.....I'm down to my last half cup of coffee...just enough left for dunking....I'm telling you peeps, I forget stuff all the time.

Anyway, So, we are sitting there eating and Theresa gets her blanket out, that she had made out of all of her old sweatshirts! Actually it's a quilt and I WANT ONE!  It was adorable, and I still have every sweatshirt we ever wore.  I did not get a good picture of it, but I will.   She said she brought it to make us all jealous, because Ashley said she was wearing a sweatshirt that was going to make us all jealous.  What is up with that?  And Ashley ended up getting us all sweatshirts...just sayin' Sister!

OK...so we were all getting ready for bed and the kids next door were screaming and jumping and banging on the walls.  A real party going on.  It was ok for the first hour.  After awhile it got old.  So Theresa pounded on the wall!  Which did no good.  So I called the front desk.  Well, the girl that answered was the only one working and she couldn't come up until her replacement came in at 11:00.  Okaaaayyyyyy......
It was noisy up until about midnight.
The only one it didn't bother was Vickie because she was snoring louder than them!  Poor girl had a cold and a bottle of Nyquil!  I woke up at 3:00 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.  So I took my pillows and a book and went to the bathroom and cushioned the tub with my pillows.  I laid down to read, so as not to wake them up.  I was secretly hoping one of them would come in and see someone in the tub and scream, but apparently Ashley and Vickie were already awake and knew I was in there.  Theresa was sleeping with a pillow over her head!  When I came back to bed around 5:00, I put a pillow over my head too!  It helped.  I finally got into a deep sleep and did not even hear Ashley and Theresa get up and go downstairs to eat.  When they got back in our room, at 8:30, they woke me and Vickie up!!!!   I do believe that was a first.
The next morning, Vickie was going to complain about the noise, but the young girl waiting the counter couldn't even figure out change.  Vickie had to tell her she only owed her 4 cents.  Apparently, she was going to get the calculator out.
When I was in the hall talking on the phone to my Shug, I saw four young kids go into the room beside ours, and the parents go into the room across the hall.  Need I say more?

Another group photo...this one is the new tradition!

We went back to the indoor mall (Glenbrook) to do some more shopping.

I gotta tell you about these dressing rooms.  We were in a store and I wanted to try on a sweatshirt.  Well look at the door to the dressing room.  Several of them were like that!  You could see right in them.  I went and got my sister and told her I wanted to try on a sweatshirt but I didn't want people to see me.  She asked me if I could leave my shirt on under the sweater I was wearing.  Yeah, but I just didn't feel right about it.  So I went to get a sales clerk.  I told her the same thing....I want to try a shirt on but I don't want to be seen. 

She explained to me that when you get inside the dressing room, the window clouds over.  All I know is it's like magic!  And very weird.

After shopping, and me stocking up on jeans....we went to Red Robin for lunch/dinner.  It was around 3:00.  When we left, as I said earlier, it was raining.  And the closer to home, the harder it rained. I'm thankful we all made it home safely.  And in spite of all of the pictures...we managed to get a lot of Christmas shopping done!

Cindy Bee