"Downtown"

I am normally smart enough to not take my kids shopping at the mall with me, but today.... I thought I'd be ok, just going to one store. I promised the kids that we'd get ice cream afterwards if they were good. (it was 'free cone day' at Ben & Jerry's).
So, I went to my "store" and didn't find what I was looking for. As we're heading out the door, I notice a rack of jeans that look like they might be "my new favorite pair". As I take a pair off the hanger, Logan screams and lets out a wail of a cry that scared me to death, as I thought he must have gotten stabbed or something. I ran over to him and ask what happened, and he says that Hailey sprayed perfume in his eye! All the while, forgetting that I have the pair of jeans in my arms, the alarm goes off in the store because they think I'm stealing the jeans out of the store! So, I say, "We're leaving!" Then Hailey starts screaming crying because she thinks I mean that we're not going to get ice cream now. Anyways, after convincing Logan that he's not going to die from perfume in his eye and explaining to Hailey that we are still going to get ice cream (besides, I needed it more than anyone by now!), we head up to Ben & Jerry's. Boomer, who is the mascot for the hockey team here, is there to greet us when we get to the top of the escalator. Logan and Hailey love Boomer, but Hudson started screaming his head off. As fast as I can, I turn to find Ben and Jerry's... and what do you know, there's a line about a mile long to get a free cone. I hurry to get in line and there's a guy on a microphone (who I thought was so annoying because I thought he was just a crazy downtown man, talking on a microphone), and amidst what I thought was just jibberish, I hear him say "A 5 dollar or more donation to the Wishing Star Foundation gives you front-of-the-line privileges!" By some miracle, I happen to have a 5 dollar bill in my pocket and I say I want to make a donation and I get to go to the front of the line. I'm sure everyone who had been waiting in line forever was really liking me, but I didn't care. I had 3 kids with me and I NEEDED some ice cream, dang it! I hadn't had Ben & Jerry's for like 5 years, so I thought I'd just try "Half Baked"... um.... Ben & jerry? You guys are so awesome! That is my new favorite ice cream in the world! Bits of brownie, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, whoa. Let's just say I was feeling a little better.... Until the top scoop plopped down on the floor, that is. And to top off my whole experience of downtown Spokane today, I got a freakin parking ticket. Downtown aint what it's all cracked up to be, Petula! I need some more "Half Baked"....