A couple of days ago, we went to visit with Chris' brother Scott who lives about 90 minutes from us in the mountains of our great state. Too bad we waited until the end of the summer for this little jaunt because it turned out to be a jewel of a town with all sorts of fun things for the kids. His apartment is walking distance from the downtown area and that alone was enough to entertain the kids for hours! It was so funny to see how captivated they were with this whole different way of living. "Who lives here?" wondered Samuel pointing upstairs. "Who room is dis?" gesturing towards the door opposite of Scotts. When we walked outside to the parking lot, Samuel wondered, "who are deez people at your house?". Too funny! All the while, I could see the girls enjoying the whole *metropolitan/big city* feel of the town and how absolutely cool it was to walk to our restaurant for lunch.

We debated on lunch and while my brother-in-law had several suggestions for their local favorites we went with a faithful standby: Five Guys Burgers & Fries. If you have never sunk your teeth into one of these fat, juicy, artery clogging stacks of meat then you are soooo missin' out! We walked through the town market area and I lamented over not coming sooner, not coming with more money, and not coming with my GIRLFRIENDS so we could do some serious shopping :)

Oh, and did I mention that we took Tex with us? Tex is our 9 week old cockapoo (more cocker than poo but that is another post and a bit debatable). He did so wonderfully! NO accidents whatsoever and was the most patient and calm little traveler. Can I say the same for Samuel? Regrettably, no I cannot.

You see, our next visit was to a little shoe store where "can I call her *aunt* Robin" works. This is the kind of store that I call "hoy-tee-toy-tee" but I guess in more distinguished circles you would call it "upscale". It was definitely hip and definitely stylish and definitely not somewhere I would normally bring my three children and our dog, BUT we were visiting and not shopping so we will be quick. I tried to take some mental notes as I scanned the room but I didn't absorb much because I was a bit worried that at any moment, one of my kids would wipe a booger on a $400 pair of sandals.

The girls were so well behaved... such little ladies :) I was so proud and really feeling my feathers start to poof out a bit when I realized that Samuel had been spending a considerable amount of time in the dressing room. My dear brother-in-law who is childless at this point, therefore found humor in this moment that would otherwise cause any parent to either pass out or bolt for the door. He informed me, between his cackle of laughter and gasps for breath that my son had filled his pants. Oh, yea and I mean *filled* them good.

I rounded the corner and found our little Sam or should I say saw his two sets of fingers wrapped around a dressing mirror while he was hiding behind it. He made a quick confession and we headed to bathroom where he proceeded to step much too quickly out of his soiled britches causing..... well you can go there in your imagination if you want but I'll spare you the details. After a small bathing session in this fru-fru shoe boutique I came out with the girls and we wisely decided it was time to go.

As we said our goodbyes, I glanced down at the dog and realized then that our puppy who we have only had one week had made it through this entire visit without one accident.

And he didn't even need a Mader truck as an incentive.