Mall in December... why?

Today Big B and I had an all day trip to two different malls. We split it up into two because the really huge mall has decorations in teal, magenta and gold for their Santa display... sure it looks nice, but not "Christmas-y" enough for me to want to get Braden's first shots with Santa. I want the traditional red and green, what can I say? It was a long day, we left the house at 8:45 and got back just after 5:30.

First of all... Braden did great with Santa. Braden said "Ho, Ho, Ho"... and told Santa he wanted "more trains please" and "reindeer". But what Santa picture place doesn't have access to photos right away, or at least within the hour? Instead, they aren't ready until next day, and since I live 40 minutes away we won't get them until next week. Annoying. Braden didn't cry... but he didn't smile either. He gave us more of a "I'm so bored and too old to be sitting on Santa's lap" kind of look. I'll share the pics when I get them next week.

Braden LOVED the reindeer in the Santa area. Since we arrived about 35 minutes before it opened (unknown to me, if I had known we would have left the house later) Braden was able to acquaint himself with all the surroundings. We went sans stroller on this part of the trip and he did an AWESOME job holding my hand and not running off when I let him go to play. After he met Santa, they gave him a cookie, an Orange Julius and Reindeer hat, I wish I had a picture of him enjoying it all at one time (I only have so many free hands on my own).

The Reindeer Hat

So there is this massive mall in Burnaby, Metrotown. One of the first things I see is this tiny woman walking with her son about the same age as Braden... wearing ridiculous stiletto heel boots. I mean... who can wear shoes like that with a toddler shopping? I walked for about 6 hours today (between both malls) and my feet feel the pain and I was wearing tennis shoes. I can tell you I wouldn't have made it 30 minutes in shoes like that. Her stroller was FULL of things so you know she'd been there awhile. I guess people like Victoria Beckham and Sarah Jessica Parker can wear 4 inch heels without issue, but I... I cannot even imagine. (On a a side note - every time I've typed "heel" I've accidentally (honestly) written "hell" and had to fix it). And yeah... I totally took out my camera to capture the moment, I was trying to be not obvious which is why it was far away to start with.

I have a son... I love it. I was destined to be a boy's mother. While I worry about having a boy and all the bruises, broken bones and cracked skulls... nothing made me as dizzy and nervous as looking for gifts for my two nieces and entering the "pink" zone at Toys R Us. This picture is just 1/4 of what I could see... WAY too much pink. I felt like I was trapped and couldn't escape back to the primary color toys.

Surprise, I have something else to complain about. It makes no sense to me that stores 100% devoted to baby clothes doesn't have room for a stroller to get through. Can't afford the rent... maybe that's because the moms with strollers can't get in and look at what you have to offer. Yes... I'm talking to you Please Mum and Gap Kids.

Here's the thing... Braden and I had an awesome day together. He was cooperative, sweet and even managed to sleep for 2 of the nearly 4 hours I walked around this mall (but sadly I don't think all that walking cancelled out the bad-for-you (but super delicious) Gyro and fries I had for lunch. It was still kind of a long day. And I have to say it really annoyed me when I finally found my car and then some $%#! (not nice person) parked this close to me and it was almost impossible to get Braden in his car seat! But after I got home and looked at this picture I realized I was just as close to the line(my car is on the left)... but it was really annoying and if Braden wasn't with me I may have said a bad word. However he was with me... so I just said it in my head.