LL Bean saved the day!

George has been in the midst of a bunch of upgrades in the shop.  He's been working to buy a few new machines, reorganize things, and make some safety upgrades. A few weeks ago we drove up to Freeport, ME to pick up a new machine.  Lil and I went along to keep him company for the long drive and fit in some shopping at L.L. Bean and the outlets (just an added perk).  The weather was great and perfect for the outdoor shopping area.  Unfortunately, about halfway there we came to the realization that we had forgotten the stroller .. uh oh! Lillie has always been such an easy little girl so I was hopeful that we'd do fine with a little handholding and carrying around the outlets.

Lil has been really big on being independent lately though.  George dropped us off and I met a new little version of my darling little girl.  We stopped at a few stores and it was push away from mommy, run away from mommy, sit on the floor and refuse to move, YELL!  Where did this come from??? Seriously.  Usually, I go out to the store and people say "Wow, is she always this good?" and I say "yeah... knock on wood ... actually she is." We always knew the tides would change eventually ... whole new Lillie today. I was suddenly just another mom with a screaming child. On a normal day I would have hopped right back in the car and headed home but we had about an hour to wait until George returned to pick us up and shopping was clearly NOT going to happen.

 Instead, we sat on a bench in a courtyard and read a few books. Thank goodness I stuffed a few small ones in the diaper bag!

 Then we tested out some kayaks ... well ALL the kayaks ... a few times. 

 We found an adorable, though crooked, little house to play in.

 We tried out LOTS of colorful chairs!

 Thank goodness LL Bean has fun things to play with!!!!

 And back to the chairs ... Once inside we found a chalk board to write on, more books to read, trikes to test out, and tents to climb in.  LL Bean is awesome for kids of all ages!!!

We even tried out awesome new hats once dad returned to help with the wrangling.

Moral of the story .... LL Bean is awesome & there is a stroller now packed in BOTH vehicles!