I had to drive to go to Boston today to pick up one of my stepfather's painting which was at an art gallery (Copley Society for the Arts) in Boston. My folks had a wedding this weekend so getting down here was going to be tough so I offerred. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but what I didn't realize was that it was the same weekend as the 4H Fair. I also didn't expect it to be one of the nicest weekends of the summer. So, I kind of put it off... to the last minute. I was going to take the train but Max and I had too nice a time at the Fair and stayed too long to make the last train that would get me there in time. So, I had to drive. No biggy. I have made this drive enough times (it is one exit after the hospital). I offerred to take Lauren so that she would be out of Josh's hair when he tried to mow the lawn, and Max really wanted to come along for some odd reason, so we got in the car and headed in. The drive went smoothly. Both kids fell asleep pretty quickly (which is why Max is still awake at 9, but oh well) so I had a nice quiet drive in. There was no traffic, and I made it in record time, about 45 minutes, just like Google Maps said, and I had no trouble finding the street. Parking was another matter. I was hoping for street parking but it was really busy. If I had been alone, I would have just driven around until I found parking, and I was tempted to do that anyway, but I decided that with both kids, plus a painting to carry, I would just suck it up and pay 10 bucks to park in the lot across the street from the gallery. Well, as it turns out, this was a good decision. I hopped out of the car at the parking booth, in front of the two parking guys, and opened Max's door, and then walked over to get Lauren. As I was putting on a carrier, I looked at Max's feet and said "where are your shoes?" with mild panic in my voice, but to be honest, I just figured he had kicked them off. Both kids have a habit of going barefoot while in the car. He said "down there" pointing to the ground so no worries. I put Lauren on my back, walk around, and he hasn't found the shoes (he was pretty groggy from his nap), so I look and then reality hits me. "Did you take them off in the house when we got back from the fair?" "Ummm, yes, I did." Argh! We were only home for maybe 10 minutes. I had checked to make sure Lauren had shoes, as Josh has been known to put her in the car without them, but never thought to look at his feet (he put himself in the car). Back around the car, Lauren off my back, around again, all 40something pounds of Max on my back. The parking lot attendants by this time are looking at me wide eyed. One of them says "Don't you have a stroller in there that you can put him in?" "No, I never use a stroller. It will be okay." and I take Lauren by the hand and say thanks and off we go, Max on my back, barefoot, me pregnant, holding to Lauren who tends to bolt for dear life down the very busy Boston street. I get to the light to cross, call Mom to double check that the gallery is where I think it is because they are doing roof construction or something and all the buildings are wrapped in white paper so nothing looks familiar. It really was just across the street, though, so it really wasn't a bit deal. One of the women at the gallery was nice enough to carry the painting to my car for me, which definitely made things easier. When I was leaving, not 10 minutes later, the parking lot attendant said "leaving already "and I responded "I told you it was only going to be about 5 minutes. This will be one of the most expensive per minute parking times that I have had but thank goodness it was close." and he chuckled and then handed me my credit card back, leaned over and pressed a button and told me that he didn't charge me. There are still good people in the world.

The drive back was uneventful and I made the whole trip in about 2 hours. My mother spent half of that laughing at me.