a grand day out

or how good my kids can be

What started out as an adventure of sorts — getting tires and a tuneup on the family van before our trip to Ocean Shores next week — turned into a real ordeal. First of all, the loaner cars were unsuitable. In one of them a rear seatbelt refused to latch, so there was no way to fit a car set, and the other predated shoulder belts, meaning neither seat could be mounted.
So it was off to the bus: route 26 took us down to Pike Place Market, where I decided we should exit: the anti-social behavior of a just-boarded passenger was more than I needed to explain to young impressionable minds. But that put us within striking distance of the Aquarium, and a chance to burn off some of the time until our wheels were ready.
All went swimmingly, until we decided to strike out on foot for REI (almost exactly a mile away). We made it there, drooled over the all the fabulous outdoor gear, had lunch, and played in the kids play area. Then the call came to tell us the car was ready, so we went in search of a bus. And missed the route. My troops marched 1.2 miles (as the Yahoo! counts) to the car repair place. Amazing. And they had no idea I was going to reward them with a stop at Ben & Jerry’s until we got there, either, so they did it just because they had to.