Mrs Grouse and I had the Grouselets out to Woodbury for the big Santa Arrives by Firetruck thing at Woodbury Lakes shopping center last Saturday night. Needless to say, Santa + Firetrucks = Major Hit for Henry (age 4) and Tommy the Tank (age 2).
So there were thousands of people there to see Santa and then when the festivities ended at 8, it was traffic chaos as 10,000 people all got in their cars and headed for the two exits at once. 
Good luck to ya!
We decided to wait things out a little, so we ducked into some stores and ended up at Eddie Bauer where Mrs. Grouse decided to try on a jacket and some sweaters.
The shopping center was almost empty now and there were a lot of store workers at the checkout area just milling around. Tommy is a social little guy and he loves women, so he was over making friends in Women’s Denium. I’m keeping an eye on him and I’ve got Henry sitting on the counter and we’re talking to the store staff (all women, aparently).
Mrs. Grouse comes back with a sweater and the woman at the checkout counter asks her, “Did you find that jacket you were trying on in your size? We have more.”
“No,” replied Mrs. Grouse, “It’s kind of a skinny cut and I’m a bit big in the chest for that style.”
And so Henry turned to mum and the clerk and without a pause replied, “Roger that, mum.”
But wait, there’s more. The clerk across on the other side was drinking from a water bottle and she did the classic water-shooting-out-nose thing. All over the cash register and counter. It was epic.
I pretended to be invisible. Predictably, it didn’t work. Mrs. Grouse clocked me a good one for no freaking reason. Geeze. It’s not like I told him to say it.
So then I went to collect Tommy from Women’s Denium where he was flirting with a nice looking blonde girl, so at least he has good taste.
That one was almost as funny as when I taught Henry a modified version of the Sir Mixalot classic: I like big boats and I cannot lie. . .
Grouse
