A rainy bank holiday in San Francisco

Being British we are of course no strangers to the rainy bank holiday. But this was our first one in January, and with a toddler. After 2 days of on/off rain bank holiday Monday felt very British indeed, the heavens opened and it hammered it down for most of the morning.

Paul and I tried to work out where on earth we could take Leah that wouldn't also be filled with other desperate parents with their crazed children. Most indoor play areas that we are aware of involve pricey membership fees, everything else is a museum which have great facilities for children but just don't bear thinking about on day 3 of a rainy bank holiday.

We were itching to take Leah out in the rain for a splash in some puddles but our attempts to do that the previous day had resulted in two soaking wet feet because the only wellies (or rain boots) that we had managed to find that fit Leah's tiny feet were actually for a 6-12 month old and came complete with velcro sides. So we decided to hit the shops and get her some proper boots.

I'd been looking for boots since our trip back to the UK last September but there appears nowhere on earth that sells wellies for a size 4 toddler (size 3 in the UK). Nowhere that is except Children's Place. We couldn't bear the thought of shopping in the city so we looked online and found a store / shop in San Mateo which is south of San Francisco. So we packed up Leah into the car and headed out in the torrential rain.

Within moments of entering the mall I saw the sight that is usually reserved for playgrounds and that fills me with dread. A toddler sitting in a little red plastic car being pushed by his dad. This usually fills me with dread because Leah loves, and I mean really really loves, these little plastic cars and ever since the onset of toddlerdom there's never a good outcome. Even on the rare occasion when she actually gets a go in one of these cars there are tears when we have to take her out. On Sunday we watched her pursue a little boy round and round the playground until his Dad finally took the hint and decided to make his poor little boy 'share' his car with Leah. Still we had tears when we left.

Anyway, I digress. I spotted that this car was stamped with the name of the shopping mall and even better came with a space to hold your shopping, and of course cup holders. I was about to accost the father pushing the car when I saw another one emerge from a little room called 'Customer Services'. I could barely contain my excitement. I handed over my credit card for security, not thinking and not caring if there was any cost involved. I trundled it around the corner and saw Leah's face light up as she saw me and broke out into a run. She beamed at her little yellow taxi, lifted her arms up high and shouted 'UP, UP, UP' whilst doing her excited toddler stamp. She spent the next 90 minutes being pushed around the mall grinning from ear to ear whilst holding the steering wheel and alternating between 'brrrm brrrm' and 'beep beep'. We had no grumbling, no tantrums and no tears during the whole time we were in the mall. We were both able to do a bit of shopping and neither of us felt any increase in blood pressure. It was bliss!!! Which of course leads me to wonder why all malls don't have this, and more importantly, is this common practice in the UK yet???

Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us to take a photo of Leah in her taxi. Instead I thought I'd show you some photos of her in her new boots which were of course the reason for the trip:
Now the keener eyed amongst you will notice that our girl appears to not just be wearing new boots but a whole new rain ensemble, oh the power of marketing and the even stronger power of a toddler. Children's Place had various themed boots/mac/umbrella combinations. Of course there was the obligatory pink number which I immediately steered Leah away from, this blue outfit and a nice rainbow striped option but which unfortunately was only for bigger girls. I really wanted something in red or green and thought I'd see what the boys section had to offer just in case. I spotted some very cool red dragon boots complete with eyes on the toes and spines up the back, but there was no matching anorak and definitely no umbrella. The only anorak they had was a nasty black mac with comic strip characters on it. I could've just bought the boots and be done with it but the mac looked so practical and a girl's boots have to match her coat no matter what those boots look like. So I went with the girly blue:
The umbrella was the cherry on the cake. I knew as soon as I saw it that Leah would kill for it and I was right. The toddler excited stamp started along with shouts of 'raining, raining' and 'open open open' so we were sold and bought the lot. Yes I know it'll probably all get used precisely once and yes I know it doesn't rain that much here but bloody hell my girl was going to stamp in some puddles like a true British toddler!!
So we got her suited and booted and took her out to splash in puddles. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera when we were at Coyote Point Park where she really went to town with the puddles but we did manage to get a few shots of Leah in the rain in San Francisco. The umbrella spent the majority of it's time being dragged across the floor and Leah absolutely would not let us carry it for her (more tantrums than I care to count) so we don't think it will have a very long life and in fact will spend most of its time confined to a cupboard if today was anything to go by but I'm sure you'll agree...she looks pretty damn cute doesn't she?