Farmers Market Freak Show

A cute picture to start the post off. Whenever I try to get a picture of them on their rockers (which they were sitting there together all on their own) Bryson feels the need to run away. One of these days I will catch him!

Yesterday I decided to swing over to the farmers market for some fresh veggies and some fresh local seafood. I thought a yummy seafood scampi would be a nice treat for dinner (and it was! kids loved it!).

I had the ergo carrier and the kid's leashes in the car. I know what you are thinking. "Leashes? On your children? How barbaric!" Well, we are all into the baby wearing, but my children sometimes like a little "freedom" to walk on their own. Plus is was 100 degrees outside (ok, not really, it was 98) and the Ergo can be quite sweaty.

So we went with the leashes. While my kids are great at holding my hand, Bryson is a runner. The second you let go, he is off. Doesn't matter where he is going, as long as he is moving.

I didn't want to spend an hour chasing him around a crowded farmers market.

So the leashes went on and we walked.very.slowly to the market from the parking spot, which was only about 30 feet away.

I first wanted to stop at the organic stand so I could grab a few things, then I would stop and get the kid's their treat of homemade raw ginger cookies, and then I would get the fish and shrimp last.

The organic stand was our first problem. I have 2 leashes with 2 children going in different directions.

I realized I didn't think this all the way through.

With the leashes on my wrist I could at least use my hands to grab produce, but not when my hands were being pulled from either side. And children on a leash are not like dogs on a leash, you can't just yank them back to bring them closer to you.

I then noticed why Bryson was trying so hard to get away (and now screaming at the top of his lungs). He spotted the cookie lady.

I had about 2 seconds to pay for the 2 things I could manage to grab before people started to really stare. And I mean the people from the other booths, because everyone at this stand was already staring and starting to back away. I think they thought his head would start spinning at any moment.

Finally we were over at the cookie lady and the kids were signing "cookie please" a million times a minute. I couldn't hand them over fast enough.

Fortunately, the fish stand was right across the way and I was able to usher the children over to the large crowd/line.

Then I horrified a large group of people.

Bryson wrapped himself in his leash and fell to the ground, and dropped his cookie.

I picked him up.

I picked the cookie up.

I blew on the cookie (you know, since all germs are able to be blown off things), and gave it back to him.

He then continued to eat it.

The gasps echoed across the market.

I could hear the people around me saying to each other "did you just see that?", "can you believe she did that?", "that's just not right."

Was it a proud moment?

No.

Was it necessary?

Yes.

We grabbed our fish and started the painfully slow walk back to the car.