Caleb (at two years)

Here are some pictures from Caleb's two-year old party and other events in the past weeks. It's a long time coming.

THE CAKE

the canvas


the artist


the result


THE PARTY

my first easel


gifts


elmo and lolli-pops


smiling


no utensils


new bike


JONATHAN

smiling


lying around

Walmart

This post will break all norms for me. Instead of photo-blogging, this will actually be akin to a real blog entry. Last night I went to Walmart for a few items, but it ended up lasting so long, and the trip was so awfully memorable, that it had to be recorded. At one point, I almost laid down in the throw rug / stationary aisle and gave up. But I am getting ahead of myself...

The impetus of my trip was to purchase those plastic eggs for Easter hunts. If you were Walmart, where would you put them? Well, they weren't near the impulse-buy Easter candy at the front (which I did succumb to). And they also weren't with the party supplies or Easter cards that were also near the front.

(By the way, who is buying Easter cards and who are they sending them to? There is only one logical answer. I mean do the cards read something like, "Dear Jesus, thank you for rising from the dead, because if you didn't then we'd all be in a heap of trouble. Sincerely, Christopher...and Amen.")

But I digress. After a pretty good search, I gave up on the eggs and started looking for thank-you notes. Do you know that they aren't with the rest of the pen and paper supplies? After a while, I discovered they are actually with the party supplies and Easter cards. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that the first few times I walked through that aisle looking for the plastic eggs.

At this point in time it's good that I found the bagels when I came in because I had to use them to leave a crumb trail to find my way out of the deep recesses of the store. By now, I've walked up nearly every aisle multiple times. I considered lying down in desperation. But I forged on, bleary-eyed.

I also needed a Brita water filter. Do you know that they don't keep them with the water pitchers? In fact, do you know that they are not on any shelf in the kitchen section at all? Brita filters, I was told, were in the hardware section. After more wandering, I discovered the water filters next to the air filters, which were near the smoke detectors. Maybe they figured if you had a fire and your smoke detector wasn't working, your next best option was to throw filtered water on the flame.

After further searching for the eggs, I gave up and went to the check-out counters. Apparently, every hick in Lancaster County was spending their Friday night at Walmart, and they were all checking out with their entire family at this very moment in time - buying their Stone Cold Steve Austin DVDs and their Elvis Pez dispensers. This would explain why there were no employees in the aisles to help my find the eggs, because every available clerk had been called, on multiple occasions, to the front registers.

While waiting in long lines, I saw it. A man checking out with a light green basket. Where did he get that? I look to my right, and all the way at the back of the store sticking up above the shelves were what appeared to be pre-wrapped Easter baskets.

Taking the chance, I left the line to seek out the pastel Promise land. Just beyond the pet food and across the aisle from the motor oil were the coveted Easter supplies. I had figured the seasonal merchandise would be in the front, but they actually bury them in the back - much with the same rationale a grocery store uses when they put the milk in the rear of the store, I guess.

Their plan works, too, because in my wanderings I almost bought a throw rug, more candy, and an attache case. Luckily, I only came away with a $5 DVD (not of Steve Austin).

I got back in line at the 10 items or less "speedy" counter, which is what they like to call it. Unfortunately, they put their slowest cashier person there. Walmart's policy must be that the amount of items is inversely proportional to the age of the employee. It went so slow that by the time I got to the front, the speedy line was the only one with people in it and the rest were empty.

Finally, I made it out of the store alive with everything on my list - although with a few less bagels. My own personal Easter egg hunt was over.