Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Why I love the Swedes!



Summer sounds like so much fun when you are busy driving carpool all day, helping with homework, and doing fundraising.  But right about now (July/August) you realize that being stuck at home all day with these heathens and trying to find cheap (aka- free) things to do with them for entertainment (besides the television that they would love to park themselves in front of from sun up to sun down) is not very fun.  Thankfully though, Orange County has Swedes.  And every mom should LOVE the Swedes.

There is this huge building right off the 405 FWY in Costa Mesa, you may have seen it from time to time.  It’s this discount home furnishing store called “Ikea”, I’m sure I am the very first person to tell you about them because none of you have ever been poor and furnished your first apartment with their products that take all day to put together; and then you grew up and had kids only to go back to their store and buy their products because you were tired of your kids trashing your expensive stuff.  Oops, I lost my point… okay, Ikea is your friend.  As a mom with bored kids during summer, you should love Ikea.

Why do you love Ikea?  Because of their FREE babysitting.  Seriously, not even 24 Hour Fitness, which I pay a hefty monthly membership to, allows my kids to stay for free.  As a matter of fact, it seems like their pricing is always going up for day care and they will call you once you finally start to break a sweat on the treadmill and tell you that your kid looked upset and maybe you should take him home… without a refund.  Awesome.

Again, I regress.  So Ikea has a day care area with a ball pit that my kids love.  You can leave them there for an hour and you should usually show up in the morning, because it does fill up pretty quickly.  Now, the cherry on top of this amazing Swedish Sundae is on Tuesdays kids eat for free at Ikea (thank you Jessica my best deal finding friend).  Alright so let me explain how your Tuesdays should play out:

8am- Throw some food at the children and hope that they don’t hurt themselves or each other as they shovel it down

9am- Open your first soda, take a deep breath and throw them into the car

9:30am- Arrive early to Ikea and remind them how they have to be on their best behavior or else they are grounded for life

10am- Check them into the daycare for an hour and silently thank God for creating Swedes

11am- After casually walking around for an hour, ALONE, you can calmly go pick up the kids from their play area

11:05am- You are already back to being stressed out so head up to the Ikea food court to grab your 2nd coke and the kids free lunch

11:10am- Throw the food at the monsters

11:20am- Finally eat your food while the crazy children play in the play area (small play toys in the eating area) or the kids department (located right next to the food court)

11:45am- Throw the kids back in the car (and the items you bought to recreate something you saw on Pinterest) and drive home.

12:15pm- Turn the television back on for the kids and check the clock to see how much longer you have until your husband is home and can take over corralling the bulls.


SEE!  Your day could have a tiny window of less stress and your kids can have full bellies without you doing the cooking or opening your wallet.  This is a win, win.  I love Ikea.  And now… I’m headed out the door to go check it out.  Sorry daycare staff, I hope they pay you well because my kids are monkeys that still need a lot of training.
  
Heads up, here is a list of “family friendly” items the Costa Mesa Ikea offer:

IKEA Costa Mesa offers a wide array of family friendly services to make your shopping experience more complete. You will find:

-Smaland: a FREE supervised play area to leave your potty trained children between 37” – 50” for one hour while you shop.
-children’s play areas throughout the store
-family parking
-family restrooms
-shopping strollers
-bibs, bottle warmers, high chairs and a play area for children in the restaurant
-free children’s activities throughout the year
-99¢ menu items for children in our restaurant

The most important people in the world deserve furnishings made just for them. You’ll find plenty of colorful, playful products for kids’ rooms and the family living spaces. And of course, lots and lots of TOYS!

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