The Fountain at the Mall

Tuck and I have a long standing tradition: we love the mall. We have loved to visit the mall since he was only weeks old, when I was going stir crazy, without anyone on my calendar but him, and with a strong desire to be somehwere else.

We have of course added Tyler into our field trips, and he loves the adventures too. Earlier in their lives, the three of us camped out in the women's lounge at Nordstrom (a community of breastfeeding moms), then we enjoyed the benefits of the log cabin for little crawlers.

Now we have been known to browse the pet store... and on a rainy day we like to settle in at Pottery Barn Kids where the boys practice their domestic skills in the play kitchen. (Sorry, Robb. They're not learning to be mommies; they're pretending to be daddies. If you weren't so good in the kitchen, then they wouldn't be interested.)

It's a great field trip for a rainy day, a sunny day that's just too hot to behold, a lunch date with another family with toddlers and preschoolers, and lately, it's just the evening fix for this mom when Robb is traveling. I've had enough of all that is our home, and we go. To the mall.

We don't need to buy anything; we just stroll, people watch, climb, and snack our way through the stores. It works out for everybody in my family.

But there is one attraction at the mall that has been a constant favorite for each of my boys, every single time we have visited since they were big enough to notice it: the fountain.

There is just so much that is enticing about the craggy rocks (despite the signs warning boys not to climb on them), the sparkling pennies, and my goodness, the jumping stream. They love it. We position ourselves in a dry spot to take it all in, and we wait for the stream to burst forth from one rock, to land with a splash on another.

Tucker says the water jumps. Truly, it kind of does. He points and laughs every single time.

My mom was with us on one of our recent evening outings to the mall, killing hours on a rainy evening (hence the jackets, long sleeves, and jeans... in August), waiting for bedtime. Ever ready with her camera, she took a picture of my boys and our routine at the fountain.

I love these pictures.

I might have someday forgotten how fun it is to discover the same old things all over again with these little boys.

But now, I'll always know.