Five stages of grief when you're not getting anything done

With the use of Gallery Furniture's over-sized chair, Stephen comically acted out the five stages of grief.  Although he was pretending he had just discovered he had been shrunk to 1/4 his size, I thought it also illustrated the stages we parents go through to get a male child out the door for a day of "boring" shopping. 

So, we got into the car and...

Aside from buying furniture -  and yes, monkeys, I did mention monkeys - it was an educational trip, as well. I loved the huge tree slice they had, with the many rings listing historical events that occurred during the growth of those rings.


And since Stephen has been home schooling this past year, it was nice to be able to pack a little physical education into the day with Gallery Furniture's nine-mattresses-large jumping pad.

Now, back to the monkeys.  Every so often, they have a trainer bring out a monkey to play with the customers.  The day we went, they brought out Thor.  Thor was very playful, and stole my keys.  His trainer scolded him as if he were a three year old, and Thor brought my keys back and pouted, like a three year old.  It was all too cute.

The impression I got here was that these people know how to enjoy life, and each employee I ran into showed this in their attitude.  The whole place was set up for fun.  Even the restrooms were interesting, each with it's own theme inside, represented by the mural on the door!

The store is huge.  They have birds sitting freely on decorative branches throughout the store, many of whom stoically ignored us, but one kept calling to Stephen each time we tried to walk away.  "Hello," it called as we turned our backs.  We'd turn around with joy and excitement to face a blank-faced, clammed-up bird. We walked away and got another greeting.   
We had a wonderful time.  After I had picked out a chest I loved, Stephen reminded me that I had mentioned sugar.  Most people accept the ice-cream and cake when they enter the store, but we filled up on sweets as we were leaving. They offered these, and drinks, all complementary to visitors.

Overall, this one one of the best days we've had just hanging out at a store.

(I have since discovered there are more Gallery Furniture stores.  We were at the North Freeway store (6006 North Freeway, Houston, TX 77076).)