Books and bread

We are deep into our month from heck. By next week Friday, the husband will have had 5 trips in 30 days, which means he has been gone a LOT. The kids and I have developed a sort of routine for the days he's gone, most of which centers around doing things in the late afternoon, to distract us from his after work absence and to psych myself up for the solo ordeal of bath and bedtime.

Yesterday, our trip of distraction was a visit to the Charleston County Public Library annual book sale. I LOVE this event! It's two football fields of books on tables with great prices and great selection. 1.00 for hardback and .50 for paperback kid's books--you can't do better! Last year, I took Toddler J, but it was a bit of a disaster. He was too old to want to stayed strapped in the stroller and too young to sit in a corner and read. Yesterday morning, I left J with his favorite babysitter and took E on a whirlwind tour of the children's books. At 7 1/2 months, he was much more amenable to sitting quietly while Mommy rushed around, picking up books left and right.

And pick them up I did! Last year, my focus was board books, but we have enough of those. This year, I knew we had some favorite authors and characters to look for. I ended up getting lots of books about Babar, Curious George, the Berenstain Bears, and Winnie the Pooh, not to mention books by Dr. Seuss, holiday books, books about animals, and lots of great books about DINOSAURS, of course.

But did I go to the sale just once? Oh no, we all went back in the afternoon! Toddler J was great this time, running ahead of me, picking out books, bringing them back to Baby E, even letting me get some trade paperbacks for myself, something I hadn't had time for in the morning (1.00 a piece!). Next we walked across the street to the library (to check out DVDs, of course; we had plenty of books!) and then headed over to a nearby bakery for something to drink. Charleston is ranked as one of the country's most walkable cities, and I suppose it is, IF you live downtown and IF you have a really rugged stroller (which we do!) and are feeling particularly intrepid (which we were!), so we got to the bakery despite reaching where the sidewalk ended on our way. Once there, we got Orangina (yum), day old bread (sourdough boules), and, what Toddler J gasped when he saw the pastry case, "little cakes" (three layer chocolate brownie cheesecake ganache, selected by J himself--good genes!).

Good food and LOTS of books! It was an awesome afternoon with the boys!