Catch up. Remy-5

In the first week, we'd sat down with Remy to ask him what sorts of things he wanted to do.

He indicated an interest in shopping. Specifically, he wanted to get "levvy zheen" for his sisters. Levvy Zheen, turns out to be Levi Jeans. I kind of like how he called them Levvys. I am tempted to do the same some days. It just sounds more sophisticated, somehow.

Anyways, he wanted Levvy Zheen, and he wanted to go to "Guilderan Auchlette"

I'll let you steep a bit on that one.

Guilderan Auchlette.

He'd even written it down. That's how I know how it's spelled.

I was at a loss as to what he might want to do.

And then I saw that it was part of a bulleted list::

• TJ Maxx


• Ross


• Guilderan Auchelette

I'll let you steep in this a while.

Got any ideas?

(cue the music from Final Jeopardy)

Aha!

GILROY OUTLETS!

Apparently, their fame had spread all the way to France, and it was something that he wanted to experience.

So at the butt-crack of dawn, we were out the door, a van on a mission to Gilroy, containing one 16 year old boy who does not like to shop, and who made it VERY clear that he didn't know why HE had to come along, and this was DUMB, and he was just going to make our lives (including that of our guest, argh!) hell, to the point where I nearly pulled over (during RUSH HOUR) in the middle of San Jose and kicked him to the curb with a "Find your own damn way home, then!" final cut. But I didn't, you'll be happy to read. I didn't want my Mother of the Year Crown to tarnish, or anything.

We got to the outlets just as they were opening, and I drove around, to give Remy an idea of the lay of the land, and then we made our plan of where we would shop first. And then Skip decided to stay in the car, because he was being an ass, and the rest of us shopped.

First stop: Levi Outlet Store.

In the Levi store, he scored a pair of skinny jeans for his older sister. I hope they fit. Apparently the sizing is different between Europe and US. Who knew? He knew her size there, though, and there was a very helpful clerk who knew the conversion factor. He paid $30 at the outlet, which was a deal, considering that they were $59 in the regular stores. And Remy looked like a cat that ate a canary, because the same jeans would be over $100 in France.

He also scored a very nice Levi t-shirt for himself.

We went to all the hipster-brand stores. But mostly Remy just window-shopped. I don't know if the prices were still a little higher than he hoped, or if he was just not a shopper. I know that I found the prices still really quite high, even though they were 'outlet mall' priced. I wouldn't have bought anything at most of the places we walked into.

But in the Vans store, we did find some value. And Nate and Kelly walked out with new shoes.

Kelly's feet are now nearly as big as mine. And she's only 11! Wah!

After we'd exhausted all the hip stores, it was time for our visit to our favourite eatery.

Skip had really perked up by this point. Maybe it was the nap in the car while we were shopping, maybe it was the multiple refills on his Coke at In-N-Out, or maybe it was just relief that teh shopping portion of the day was nearly done. but he was a happy boy after this point. Remy was intrigued by our talk of the "secret menu" at In-N-Out. We introduced him to Animal Fries, but he didn't go for any of the scary secret burgers, opting for the simple Double-Double.

On the way home, we stopped at a place called Nickel City in Cupertino. It's an old school arcade, where everything runs on nickels.

The boys had a great time shooting things, and had a few really good runs in the win-ticket acquisition. So much so, that they ended up with over 1000 tickets to redeem. Skip decided to use his 400+ tickets to purchase 93 little plastic army men. And then he gave the cashier an aneurysm when he said that he needed to pick out each one individually.

We got home in enough time to grab a snack, and then turn around to get to Kung Fu.

While Skip was having his class, we'd arranged for Remy to have a private lesson.

I think he enjoyed himself. Immensely, even.

Nate may have enjoyed himself during the private lesson, too.

After SKip's class was done, and Remy's private lesson was finished, he was invited to join the class of Yellow and Orange belt adults. And Skip was invited to help teach it.

I think they both enjoyed themselves. Immensely, even.

And after they were all sweaty and tired, we went back to our house (with Cole, too) and played with fire.

It might have been a bit loud. And a bit smoky.

And then we heard sirens, and saw flashing lights, so we ran inside like the cowards we are.

But hey, it's got to be a pretty exciting night if it ends with the fire department getting called, right?

(turns out the fire trucks were responding to a different emergency. But it COULD have been the neighbours finking on us. Really, it could have. There truly was a LOT of smoke and noise.)

A successful end to an ON FIRE day!