The Elusive Car Cart

I try to balance our grocery shopping between what I can comfortably get at Costco (which means what comes in a package small enough that it's not going to last two lifetimes with just the three of us, what is actually a brand I'm willing to buy, and what they actually carry) vs. what I'd just as soon go to the grocery store for. And then, grocery-store wise, I find myself getting some items at Safeway and others at Wegmans. (More and more, things are leaning toward Wegmans, though it makes me feel snobby, they carry better quality when it comes to veggies.) And so today found us on a brief trip to Wegmans for soda (we like the W brand and honestly it's a ton cheaper), eggs, and a few other various items. As ever, when discussing with the kiddo the possibility of a trip to Wegmans he asked if we could get the car cart. I said I'd try.

Only two grocery stores near us have car carts. Bloom and Wegmans. I don't have anything against Bloom, and do on occasion go there, but it's not what pops to mind most days when I need to hit the grocery. So the main time that we actually get a car cart is when we hit up Wegmans. But Wegmans, alas, has only two car carts. And if you're there at prime mommy shopping hours (which seems to be pretty much from the time they open until the time they close), it's hard to get your paws on one.

I pulled into the parking lot and cruised by two cart corrals to see if there was a car cart parked therein. No joy. I tried another aisle. Still no joy, but there was a parking spot near the door, so we snagged it and I eyed a fourth cart corral on our way to the store. We cruised the line of carts inside the door and walked out the other side to see if maybe there was one within spotting distance, the kiddo all the while calling joyously, "Caaarrrr carrrrt....where arrrrrreeee youuuu?"

Alas, there was no car cart to be had. But, since I had clearly given it my all trying to find one, he was reasonably happy about just hopping into a normal cart and we continued on our merry shopping way. Usually we run into the car carts in the produce section. I'm not sure why, but that seems to be the trend. And then I have to deal with him explaining that I should go ask for him to have a turn because the other people need to share for the rest of our trip. Thankfully that did not happen today. In fact, we made it through our purchases and back out to the car with no car cart sightings.

Then, as we pushed our cart back to the cart corral, what should we see but both of the car carts parked happily, just waiting for their next driver to happen upon them. And he sighed and looked up at me and asked, "Are you sure we got everything we needed?"

Poor kiddo. We'll try again another day.