A sort of homecoming

Yesterday we drove down to Windsor to be at the train station when Darin and Jennifer rolled back into town after a 4+ month stint in South Korea. As luck would have it, they were the very last ones off the train, letting the crowd who had gathered to see them think that it was some kind of practical joke on their part. But they did eventually get off - looking very similar to how they looked before they left in August, except for the big parkas. They try to tell us that it's colder in South Korea than it is here. While I believe that's probably true right now, I still find it hard to believe on a normal January day - and if so then why aren't the South Koreans the ones who have to live with stereotypes of igloos and snowmobiles??
Liam was poker faced, as usual, and if he recognized them or missed them or was glad to have them back, then he certainly didn't let on. He did find the train a bit too noisy for his liking when it pulled into the station, so Chad had to take him inside for a few minutes to let him adjust. I thought he would miss seeing them de-train as a result, but like I already said - there was plenty of time for that! We decided that if we were going to make a trip to Windsor, we'd might as well go a couple of hours early and wander around a real shopping mall for a bit. We didn't really have anything on the agenda, but managed to come home with some purchases nonetheless. It was actually pretty disappointing to go shopping at this time of year - I think we were a week too late. There's lots of good sales, but unless you're a size 2 or a size 20, odds are that you won't find your size, and you'll just be mad that you missed out on such a good buy. Nonetheless, Chad bought a couple of pairs of pants and I got the first non-striped shirt I think I have bought in years. All that time spent watching What Not To Wear must finally be paying off.
When we got home, though, we realized that one of our shopping bags had gone missing - one from The Children's Place, with some great loot for Liam inside. After fruitlessly searching the car about six times, I finally started calling around to stores at Devonshire to see if anyone had found it. One of them referred me to the customer service kiosk at the mall and - lucky us - someone had indeed turned it in, loot intact. I'd be willing to bet that I left it behind in the family restroom, where I had taken Liam to feed him and change him, not knowing how much of a chaotic pit of running, screaming kids it would be. I was kicking myself for having lost something brand new like that, but I suppose it could have been worse. You hear stories all the time about people who pack up the car after a shopping trip and then drive away without their kid. Now, had that been the case, I don't think we could arrange for Jennifer's family to pick him up and wait until the weekend when we see them again to get him back. :)