June Cleaver Nirvana

One of the most anticipted event of the year is the annual "Ryan and Mommy get up in the middle of the night and go shopping" on black Friday. This year was no different (except this year the rest of the world joined us) and we were off at 4:30 am. Because Kohl's opened at 4 this morning, we missed our usual first stop because as a seasoned Kohl's black Friday shopper, I knew that 4:30 was WAY too late. We went to Belk's and stood in line for about 7 minutes to be one of the first 250 people in to get a gift card (ours was $5! There was at least one in TX that was $5000) and the shopping began. Ryan and I go for the entertainment so we don't take any shopping too seriously and if the line is too long, we leave. We got a few things at Belk's and then headed for the mall. Macy's opened at 6 and we were one of the first ones in. I did really well on several of their early bird specials. It wasn't too crowded or difficult to negotiate the aisles. We then went into the mall which was 80% open--yeah! This is the first year that mobs of people who want to spend money weren't just roaming aimlessly throughout the mall. So we hit the Disney store, Gymboree, Hallmark and a few other stops. When we got tired we went to IHOP for breakfast and were home by 7:30. Naps ensued and we were feeling much perkier at noon and went and got the other boys who had been rescued from black Friday by Mimi and Bampa. We had a great morning and look forward to next year. Greg and I had gotten online last night and picked up some of the early bird specials at Wal-Mart for Rhett's birthday which is coming up quickly. The online thing saved me from the hell that is Wal-Mart on black Friday. Other places I would never get within a parking lot's distance are Target, Toys R Us and Best Buy...remember, we are in this for the entertainment!