Make yourself at home...

Ben had a surprise today. Our friend Ruth came round to come to Ikea with me and the boys!! We even moved Charley's carseat to the front so that Ruth could sit next to Ben. And then it took us over two hours to get to Ikea, what with traffic jams and roadworks. We were HUNGRY.

Straight to the restaurant, where Ben made friends with some other kids, Charley discovered he liked fish and chips and peas, and Ruth and I could barely hear each other over the general hubbub!

We took our time going round the store, letting Ben investigate each and every home and room. He was SO looking forward to reaching the childrens' section - and when we did, he found a book, made himself at home on a bed in one of the show bedrooms, and settled down to read the book! Of course we had to find to buy a copy of the book after that. AND then read the book while we had a quick break for coffee! He wanted to go home by the time we reached the marketplace though. Tired out. Still, we made it through in one piece. And all the way to the checkouts without losing anybody or running people over! Charley slept and ate and explored a bit and watched and slept and watched and laughed :D And then, Ruth's purchases came in a teeny tiny bit over budget but mine - for the first time EVER - came in UNDER BUDGET by a whole 70p!!!! Given I started out with £100 plus enough change for the Dartford Crossing plus two £5 shelves to return, and came home with less than a pound but had fed both the boys and myself as well as bought only actually useful things and things for our various businesses I am hugely pleased with myself :D

We had to get someone to help load Ruth's shelves onto the roofrack but we managed to strap them down ourselves. I think I went a little overboard strapping them down but there was no way they were going to fall off on the way home. Incredibly we managed to fit everything else into the boot!

The journey home took far less time than the journey there, and was actually quite enjoyable - Ben and Ruth sang songs and laughed in the back, and Charley played with stuff next to me until he got fed up and wanted dinner. So we stopped at Pease Pottage and had something to eat and carried on our way and Charley yelled until I gave him a chocolate as well as Ben. And then asked quite nicely for another one. And then fell asleep!! As did Ben, not long after.

We arrived home and unloaded the boys having realised that although I knew how to get the ratchet straps secured on the roofrack, I didn't actually know how to UNdo them. So once the two sleeping boys and my stuff had been unloaded Steve drove Ruth home and helped get the shelves up to their 3rd-floor apartment :)

Ahhh.

My purchases included a tray of mugs to paint :D Can hardly wait!!