Too soon, but not too safe

I got up at eight. Yes, on a Saturday. We had many things to do. First on the block was a couple of errands. The post office to pick up a package, and then the bank. I thought my post office opened up at 8:30 like on weekdays, but no. Not until ten. So we were too early. Wasted trip.

Next stop was the bank. Also too early. They didn't open until nine. So we sat there and waited the fifteen minutes for it to open. True, the drive-thru was open, but I had a different sort of transaction to make. Today, I rented a safe deposit box.

Ever since the burglary of late 2004, I've been rather concerned for the safe keeping of certain documents and other items. I contemplated getting a safe for the house, but proper and effective installation requires mounting to the floor. Even then, a determined crook (thinking there's something of greater value than papers inside) may eventually get in. Then there's the fire threat. Even high dollar home safes don't stand up infinitely well to certain kinds of fires. So when I learned how incredibly cheap it was to rent a safe deposit box, holy moly I was all over that idea. I looked it up on my bank website on a whim, and at first I thought the rate was monthly. $40/month is a bit steep for such a service. But that much annually is a freakin bargain. So within days of learning of the feasibility of that option, it is now a reality, and my important documents are safe (pun intended).

It didn't take long at the bank (maybe 20 minutes), and we then had breakfast with the girls' mom, since our late morning plans involved school clothes shopping. Much to my dismay, we spent at least a couple hours (if not a few, didn't pay that close attention) at the store spending a ridiculous amount on not as much clothes as I would have liked to walk away with. Granted the single highest dollar item was Darby's gigantic shoes (size 8.5 on a ten year old!), I was rather shocked at the sticker price when it was all totaled up. Man I hope this stuff makes it through the fall in tact.

The girls said bye to their mom and we grabbed some lunch before heading off to a movie. The girls were a bit disappointed that we didn't see a movie last night, so we took care of that today. Material Girls. How on-topic after that shopping spree. Of course the girls loved it. Especially Shelby, the biggest material girl in the house. She already wants to see it again.

After the movie, we walked around Bricktown for a bit, before catching a boat ride. Almost every time we're down there, the girls ask to ride the water taxis, but I always say no because there's always (conveniently) a huge line. Today, for reasons I'm unsure of (oh, yeah, I remember... it was a hundred degrees out), there was NO line. In fact, we were the only three people on the boat. But it worked out well. Mostly. We got a very personalized tour guide presentation, so that was cool. I'm annoyed that I forgot my camera (I almost always have it), and so had to take pics with my disappointing-when-compared-with-my-real-one camera phone (did get a couple shots, below, AND, a video of Shelby having happy birthday sung to her).

I'm also a bit peeved that I knew more about Oklahoma City economic development than our tour guide. He cited several inaccuracies, and somehow missed the news about an Oklahoma City investment group buying the Seattle Supersonics. What rock has he been living under? Tour guides are supposed to have inside info, not staler-than-Philadelphia-street-pretzels info. Sheesh. Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy, but not so informed as he should be. Don't worry, I still tipped him, so I'm not such a bad sport about it.

Now, at least, I'm off the hook with regard to Bricktown boat rides. Following previous denials of that activity, Shelby has stopped her feet to a statement containing the words "we NEVER get to...". Now that we have, no more of that. I do have some regret about our timing. It was so freakin hot out, that we were all quite literally dripping sweat when we got off the boat. Time for some AC!

And AC we got. Another first for us in Bricktown (because of previously intolerable waits), we had dinner at Toby Keith's restaurant. Not bad. Price-wise or as far as the ambiance. And only a fifteen minute wait to get seated. Though, when we left, I noticed there was a huge crowd at the door, so our timing was good.

So now I'm just way tired. We did a lot of stuff today. I wanted to do something else this evening, but the heat has just caught up with me. I was hoping for a grander send-off for our last pre-school-year Saturday. Well, we still have Labor Day. And Shelby's birthday party next weekend. Ugh.