true american icons: mcdonalds & walmart

aw, man. y'all are going to love the next chapter or two of how i met your father. i mean, if you thought the last two chapters yanked the tears out of your eyes, wait until this next chapter or two. i'll post one tomorrow, but i'm not sure yet how long the chapter will be. either way, hang with me. it gets good.

today was a day of great firsts for luke.

since he fi-nal-ly hit the 20lbs mark, he can be promoted to a forward-facing car seat. i considered waiting another month or two, but with cool weather here, it's difficult to get him in and out of his current car seat with all his layers and whatnot. since we have to buy another seat anyway, it just seemed like a good time to get it, so that we avoid as much of the holiday madness as possible.

we designated today as the day to make the upgrade. luke doesn't yet know the joy that awaits him as he finally gets to see what everyone else sees as we drive.

our first stop was walmart. because there isn't a walmart within 20 minutes of us, we rarely get to one. michael was quite excited, for reasons i don't understand, to just be in the walmart parking lot. he hates traffic and crowds, but was excited to shop at walmart. weird. i think it takes him back to his small-city roots. or, something like that . . .

i think mostly today, he was excited for luke to get to participate in an icon of american consumerism.

and so, michael also took us to the in-store mcdonalds for lunch. another great american icon.

i wish i'd had a camera so i could share with you the joy he found in plunging two adult-size bites of mcdonalds hamburger patty into his mouth. all. at. once. followed by four french fries (one at a time). the child is in love with french fries.

but dr. pepper? not so much. maybe he's not a texan after all.

as much as michael and i poke fun at mcdonalds' grip on american society, i have fond memories of mcdonalds from childhood. we didn't go often, but occassionally, mom would take randy (my friend she babysat) and me for lunch on our way home from preschool.

we'd each get a happy meal. and sit by the huge fishtank that divided the dining area from the ordering area. i had my first sip of rootbeer at the local mcdonalds (yuk!) when my tot-sized drink was accidentally switched with randy's. we'd play with our cheap happymeal toys until it was time to go home.

it was fun because it was a treat.

do you have any memories of mcdonalds (or other fast food restaurants) you'd like to share? leave a comment!