keys.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday. A gal I used to work with before we moved to WA. We get together once or twice a month and she catches me up on the office gossip. She's a doll. She's 10 years older than me, no kids by choice, but has been married for 15 years. She just bought a convertible. We used to sit in cubicles across from one another and yap the day away. She. is. great.

But this post is not about her, so I digress.

Any way, I met her for lunch yesterday. I was running late, because that is what you do when you have 2 kids. I couldn't find my keys, or my gum. Then I remembered that I had left my gum in the stroller, and the keys were probably in there too. The stroller was in the car. No problem, just use the spare key.

We trucked it out to the parking lot and I looked around and made sure no one was watching before I quickly sneaked the spare key out from under the car. Not an easy task while holding Miles and making sure that Lacey doesn't run into the parking lot and get ran over by a careless driver.

Got the key, stood up and turned around. There was a suspicious (okay, ghetto) looking couple watching me. Dang it. How did I miss them? They watched me reach under the car, stand up and then put a key in the door. Who the heck puts a key in a Nissan Murano? Hello, keyless entry? I knew they were on to me. I was annoyed, but figured I would just have to find a new place for the key so I don't wake up one morning to find my car missing...

I meet up with my friend, we walked, she shows me her new car, and then she helps me load the kids into their seats. I set my keys next to Lacey's car seat while I was putting her in. Friend stared at me and said "Andrea, you CANNOT put your keys there, you are going to lock yourself out of the car!" Nah, I said, I do this all the time, plus I have the spare key in the diaper bag, which is in the stroller, on the outside of the car. But I grabbed the keys anyway to make her happy.

Fast forward.

Mike and I went DT Minneapolis yesterday. We live a hop, skip, and a jump from DT, we lived right DT for 5 years, its a second home to us. Where one individual might be stressed about one ways, traffic, and parking, we know all the "spots" and sail through with ease. We arrived, parked and started to unload the kids. I should say I did, because Mike was on the phone. I grab the stroller and then I grab Lacey and put her in the seat. Mike got out of the car at that point and I figured he would grab Miles, he didn't. He was still on the phone, so I walked over to get Miles. His door was locked, so I tried the passenger door. Locked.

"Mike, can you unlock the doors for me?"

Uh, no, my keys are in the car. Fine, I go over to the stroller to grab my keys.

S***!

My keys are in the car, ironically next to Lacey's carseat, just like I was warned NOT to do. I'll just grab the spare, Mike says. Double S***. Because that key is still in the diaper bag from earlier. The diaper bag is in the car.

To make a long story short(er). We called 911. They gave us a number to a locksmith, and told us that if a baby was in the car, there was no charge. They were able to get there in about 15 minutes. Miles was curious, and started crying towards the end. I am sure the thought of "why aren't you getting me out of this HOT car" was going through his little brain.

Poor kid.

Lacey just kept talking about how Jamba Juice got her blanket dirty. I don't think she cared one bit her brother was stuck in the car.

So that was that. Lacey ate a whole hot dog from a street vendor, and Target Corp (which is located DT Mpls) had a huge convention that day and we were being overtaken by red shirts and khaki pants. I assure you corporate doesn't have to wear that every day, but the visions of Target Team Building exercises were dancing around in my head. I am sure they were figuring out ways to further take over the world. But if you live in Minneapolis, they already have.

Starbucks on every corner? No.

Target on every corner. Yes.