Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Weekend We Left The House

Yep, we actually left the house this weekend. And not for a supermarket/warehouse club run to stock up on bottled water and pantry essentials. Nope, this weekend we went out for fun. It didn't snow this weekend. As a matter of fact, there was no winter precipitation at all. And it was - dare I say - balmy. Yep, we went above freezing for 2 days in a row!!!

We were excited to get out for the sake of getting out. So we planned a trip out to lovely Paramus, NJ to hit up Christmas Tree Shop and Ikea. We went to Christmas Tree Shop first because they tend to have a lot of Toy Story/Cars activity sets and I knew we could pick up something that would keep Ish occupied in Ikea while me and Matt took our time strolling around the warehouse. Christmas Tree Shop did not disappoint.

Ish was pretty good for the first half of Ikea. But he was starting to get restless and since we all seemed to be hungry, we stopped for lunch and I busted out the Toy Story Activity Backpack. Stickers, stencils, crayons, a small blank pad and the ever coveted markers were included. Just enough to keep Ish happy.
So happy that he even graced me with his cooperation when I asked him to look at the camera.
And he even agreed to eat lunch with the promise of being able to use the markers again when we were done.
We didn't have any big ticket items on our list for this run, but we picked up a few items to continue organizing Ish's growing collections. I really like their hanging organizers for stuffed animals so we picked one up for Ish's big boy room.
These bins are roomy and I like that you can see through the front - I picked up a few to use in the playroom.These are smaller and I think they'll come in handy on shelves in Ish's room and the playroom as well, so I picked up 2 sets.
As we walked through the self-service kitchen area I saw these cute little funnels - 2 for 99 cents. I picked up a set for Ish to play with in the bath - he LOVES to use different pails and buckets in the bath and I thought he'd get a kick out of having a new "toy" for the tub.
So, all in all, a successful trip. We got out of the house, we had fun, we had lunch out and Ish napped on the way home. Plus, we didn't freeze our butts off getting in and out of the car and there were no icy patches to look out for as we walked to and from the stores.

And bonus, the forecast for this week gets us into the 60s by the end of the week!!! That's practically pool weather here!!

10 comments:

The Ludwigs said...

Did you have Swedish meatballs? The cafeteria was closed the last time we went to IKEA (in the middle of a big snowstorm!) and it was super sad.

By the way, 60s?! Wheeeee!

Mama Hen said...

Happy Valentine's Day my friend! Ish is so cute! Stickers is always a great thing to bring out. I always get the big sticker books with activities in it. Sounds like a good shopping day! It was actually warmer today. I just want this snow to melt already. Have a great night!

Mama Hen

Jennifer said...

I swear I was so excited this weekend for the big 40 degree weather..LOL! And I heard about the 60's....can't wait, hopefully they are right! Love Ikea and Christmas Tree Shops. We have both rather close so I am pretty lucky. Ish is too cute...love that he was excited about his Toy Story kit :)

Sippy Cup Mom said...

Aw, I love the pictures! He is so handsome!

It was 60 here today, I broke out the flip flops!

I need some of those hanging organizers, I wish we had an IKEA here.

Carrie with Children said...

Sounds like a great outing! I am so jealous about your Ikea trip! The closest one to me is about three hours away...and I've never been! I really need to make a special trip to go there - sounds amazing!

Unknown said...

Love the funnels! I can't wait to go to IKEA on Saturday :) I have the hanging mesh thing in the boys room we use it for stuffed animals, it's great!

Monica said...

Ish is so cute! And I love your idea for using the funnels in the bath tub. I'm totally running to IKEA to pick some up for my little E. Please follow my blog, too!

Mrs E said...

fun stuff!!! I am feeling a trip to Ikea soon now too, haha

and...omg he's just so cute!

Unknown said...

So fun! I could live in Ikea. I love taking shopping trips like that. Looks like you got some great stuff :)

Unknown said...

Oh I heart Ikea but I'm not brave enough to take the Kid with me! Visiting your blog from the Nestwork and adding you to my follow list!
thekidcancook.blogspot.com