The Costco Date

One thing we really miss about Utah is Costco. When it first opened there, my dad used to take my mom there every Saturday and called it their "Costco Date" because he would treat my mom to the polish hot dog and drink for a $1.50. (Big spender) But it became a joke in our family, and Tom and I continued it when we got married. We would go to Costco almost every Saturday. We always had a routine-we would enter, Tom would ogle the cameras and tell me all about the latest upgrades. Then we would look at the clothing-maybe pick out a new dress shirt for Tom, and then cut over to the books. I would peruse the children's books and Tom would look at the photography, cookbooks, and other books that interested him. Sometimes we would walk over to the bakery where we would pick out our favorite baguettes before heading to browse the frozen food section for any new items we hadn't tried yet. We usually escaped Costcos in Utah with only one to three purchases. Then we would eat at the food court. It was always pepperoni pizza, coke, and a churro. We loved it.

Now that we are in Indiana, there aren't any Costcos close by. There are only two in the state and they are both about 70 miles away. Tom was needing new contacts and Ainsley was out of diapers, so we decided to make the day of it and make the long trek to our beloved Costco. Our membership expires in December so we decided to stalk up on all necessary items that we might need in the next year because we are not planning on renewing our membership. We were nostalgic as we shopped at the giant superstore, aware that it might be the last time we are there for awhile. And we left the store with the biggest bill we've ever had as well as the largest cartload ever. It was a good day. Sniff, sniff...Costco we'll miss you.

Ainsley is finally big enough to sit in the shopping cart without her heavy carseat. I dressed her in the cutest jean skirt today, but it didn't work well in the cart. We had to hike the skirt up so her legs could fit through the bars, but it created such a pooch around her belly that she couldn't sit up straight, so she sat in this pathetic slump the entire time. Occasionally she would fall to one side, and we would have to tip her upright again. She looked kinda miserable, but she was very well behaved and got tons of compliments. Unfortunately, some woman called her a boy... I knew she needed a hair bow today.

After our trip to Costco, we went to Japan Night hosted by the Asian Club at Kelley. Ainsley posed as a sumo, we had our names written in Japanese, and ate traditional cuisine. We had three kinds of sushi, shrimp, dumplings, rice, etc. It was delicious. There was a program afterwards, but Ainsley was tired and starting to cry so we decided to head home.

Tom is hoping to go to Japan in March for Spring Break. Each year, second year MBA students put together a trip to tour companies internationally. They will visit companies like Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Toyota, Honda, etc. I am allowed to go with him, but I don't think I will because it would be a long time to be away from Ainsley. Hopefully, if everything works out though, Tom will be able to go. It would be the trip of a lifetime and I don't want him to miss out on that opportunity.