The Exploration Begins

Today the boys and I headed out early to go to the mall close to our house which contains the Carefour I have been using. The grocery stores are not stand alone like ours at home, they are contained in a large multi-floor complex that has a lot of other little stores and sometimes some large stores as well. The one that is close to our house has two other large stores--Decathalon--a sporting goods store like Dicks and B&Q which Dustin was told is a home store. I am hopeful to get our groceries, explore the small stores, and also see the B&Q. As we enter the mall, I decide to explore one of the toy stores. We left a lot of the toys for the boys at home, and we are hopeful that over time we can get them some trucks and fire engines like they have at home (we only brought some of their small toys and books). I am also on a search for some toys for them to ride on the patio and around the community.
I was so excited on entering the store because I walked right into a stroller section. They had a wide array from pricy to very reasonable and along the lines of what I was looking to buy the other day. I am going to go back another day (maybe without the drivers trailing me, as I always feel like I cannot just take my time with them present) and compare the strollers more closely. As I walk by the stroller section I run into the sippy cups that the boys use. I think I actually squealed with joy. The drivers must think I am either a shopaholic (because so far that is all they have seen me do) or just simply crazy. I thought I was going to have to wait until June when we got into the States to get a second cup for Josh, so I was really thrilled by this find. It is really a nice store for being so small and the prices are fairly reasonable.
After the toy store we head to do the grocery shopping. I need the rest of the food for my meals this week and more milk. I can only buy milk in a small quart size, which is partly why I spend most days at the grocery store. The Carefour here does not carry much of the cleaning items I wanted to pick up and so we are able to move quickly through the store.
By the point we leave Carefour Josh is getting restless and the drivers are not comprehending my attempt at saying I would like to look at the B&Q store, so we decide to head home for the day. I quickly put the boys down to nap after lunch, and try and catch some rest myself. There is nothing on TV here unless you are like Dustin and love the financial channels (MSNBC and Bloomberg). I find that they are replaying the movie the Pursuit of Happiness, and start to realize that for each month they just recycle the same few programs they have on hand.
Dinner went extremely well in regards to making it--I decided on hamburgers and homemade french fries (these are not available prepackaged here). Josh on the other hand who leans toward being more strong willed, spent his entire meal trying to convince me first with smiles and then with crying and carrying on that he should be allowed to eat just the french fries without the hamburger (this began when Danny finished his hamburger and was allowed to eat french fries--Josh figured that he should be able to do the same even though he had most of his hamburger left to eat). It was quite amazing, in a psychological way, to watch him process through everything. He clearly understood what I was saying to him as he would bring the hamburger to his mouth, but then never put it in. He even tried to hide some down in the side of his chair. I think if I was not so tired, the whole thing would have been quite humerous. Needless to say some hamburger was eaten, but he went to bed without much dinner.
Dustin arrived home safely and I allowed Danny to stay up and spend some time with him. Tomorrow we are going to try and see the B&Q and go to the other Carefour shopping mall that is a little farther away.