>Bonding while shopping: good.
Bonding while shoe shopping: better.
Bonding while shopping for the most favorite shoe of all time in an outlet store devoted to that shoe: priceless.

On the way to something else, La Petite found mention of a Converse shoes outlet mall on a route that we were about to travel. Of course, we made plans to stop. You see, she owns lots (and I mean LOTS) of Converse Check Taylor All-Stars. They are her main choice of footwear, and (this part I like) she almost never pays full price for a new pair. The last pair she bought was in the bargain bin at a tent sale for $5. She walked in with a five dollar bill and a quarter to cover sales tax, and voila! New pair of shoes.
The Converse store was tiny, but had an amazing selection. They saved us a parking space right in front of the door (not really, but we like to pretend when there’s a perfect spot available), and before even going inside, La Petite had her camera out to preserve the moment. Inside, she found 3 pair of shoes that she LOVED. First she found a pale blue-green that she’d been considering for over a year, but never found on sale. Here? $10. Pale mauve, too: $20 instead of $45. The really cool pair was dark blue, a shade missing from her Converse rainbow, and in a special design that lists at $80 on the official web site. Here? $20.
I forced her (life is rough) to accept a gift of a tiny coin purse that was an exact replica of the $5 bargain she had bought in June. Add to the bag a t-shirt with dancing bunnies on it, and then we had to leave before she hyperventilated.
Bonding while shopping: good.
Bonding while shoe shopping: better.
Bonding while shopping for the favorite shoe of all in an outlet store devoted to that shoe: Okay, we split the cost, but it wasn’t much — and that kind of fun has no price tag.

This post has been entered in Scribbit’s write-away contest for August. The theme is Collections.