64 Count Crayola Heaven

This past weekend, we had the supreme pleasure of making one of our young sons dreams come true. We took him to the Jurassic Expedition in Springfield, Illinois where he got to dig for fossils (giant messy sand pits), pet real dinosaurs (80 animatronic rubber creatures), and color ditto sheets of a stegosaurus with crusty crayons. It was AWESOME. It was nothing short of thrilling to see how excited this little adventure made him. The price of tickets, eating out, and a one night stay in a Holiday Inn were so worth it.

Upon realizing that we didn't bring any toys along with us and we had a good 5-6 hours of boring hotel time before bed, we decided to venture to Barnes & Noble to spend a birthday gift card, and Toys R Us because, well...Toys R Us! We have been in that store more times in his short 4 years than I had EVER in my entire life up until this point. Mike and I weren't allowed in that store. I'm not sure if it was because our parents thought they would be obligated to purchase something, or what, but it was like this distant, only seen on tv, kind of places. It was the Disney World of shopping centers. There was always the dream of going, but the deep down realization that that happiness was reserved for other people. That's not saying that we didn't have our fair share of deliriously happy moments when it came to toys. As I walked through the aisles with a sleeping Sawyer on my shoulder, I was caught dead in my tracks as I encountered a display of Crayola Masterworks Sets. Guys. This was the Holy Grail of crayon sets. This is the new 64 count Crayola box on STEROIDS. I remember having one of these as a kid and I can't even BEGIN to tell you how many pictures I drew, books I wrote, posters I made. I need a moment. Talk amongst yourselves. Seriously, I stood in that store and stared at this pristine gold and green box and dreamed of the day I get to see the look on my kids faces when they unwrap that gift from under the Christmas tree. I got an honest to goodness funny feeling in my tummy and almost teared up. I moved on, knowing that at their current ages, all this gift would bring me is intense anxiety as Sawyer ate her weight in colorful wax and Sullivan pretended the markers were nunchucks and swords. Swords that give bright tattoos up and down his little alabaster arms, of course. I made it to the next aisle, and again, my heart went pitter pat. Guys, I'm sure there has to be at least one of you that was as nerdalicious as I was as a child, and that you too would have swooned when you saw the "Home Section" of Toys R Us. Pretend vacuum cleaners, washer and drier sets, full kitchens, ironing boards. Playing "house" never looked so glorious. There was an entire gallery of pretend food, including felt sandwich sets that for some reason, I must have. A slice of furry cheese for your pita? Please, allow me! But, when I saw the creme de la creme, the cash register with full money tray, I about pee'd myself. The Heavens sang. I. Want. That. So. Bad. I would pl...I mean, the kids would play grocery store for HOURS with that set. These are toys that were either nonexistent when I was a kid, or we just never knew about them because of the NEVER BEING ALLOWED IN TOYS R US. Seriously, Mom and Dad. Therapy. I am going to be in therapy. That, or my kids are going to be so spoiled simply because I WANT ALL OF THE THINGS! No, no, Sawyer. I can't break a $20, because MOMMY-IS-PLAYING-RIGHT-NOW-PLEASE-GO-NAP!

The fact that Travis is still so very hardcore, "We are not moving.", is probably a good thing. We simply have no more room for toys. Our living room and the kids room are already full and there is no way that he would allow me to purchase the play dishwasher and laundry sets when I don't use the ones I have. Harsh.