I mentioned before that we have been trying to pack this week full of fun activities for the kids. Yesterday we met up with a good friend of mine and her kids and caught the train (trax) up to Salt Lake City. Riding the train was a big part of the adventure. The kids were happy about not having any seat belts and I was able to sit and nurse Sam while traveling. Awesome!

In Salt Lake there is a really nice, new mall up there called City Creek. It’s fun just to walk around it. There’s a little stream running through with fish and bridges and fun things to look at. There are also some fun fountains that the kids can play in. We also grabbed some lunch and did a bit of window shopping.

We had such a great time and it we were quite pleased with our little adventure.

On the way back home, the train was a little bit more busy. We crowded in and sat down. Our strollers had to sit in the isle because there wasn’t really anywhere else to stash them. There was a man on the train, maybe about 25 or so, who was sitting across from us. He noticed our baby boys and started up a conversation about how his wife is pregnant with twin girls and how he already has a 2 year old girl. He told us he was headed to pick up his wife at a particular stop and then take her to the pregnancy clinic. He was nice and chatty but he kept going and going, leaning over to make faces at my friend’s baby boy and such. After a while he wouldn’t stop talking to us. My friends stroller was kinda in his face the way he was leaning over. It wasn’t very stable where it was because of the movement of the train. He said he was sticking his foot behind the wheel so it wouldn’t roll away. My friend tried to pull it closer to her but there wasn’t really anywhere for it to go.

At one point this man even stood up and leaned over the stroller to shake my friend’s little girls hand. Then I started to think he was acting kinda weird. Don’t most people just keep to themselves. Come on guy! The train stopped at a stop and all of the sudden he said that this was his stop and he jumped off at the last min. We were totally confused because he had told us where he was going and he was 5 stops too early. Weirdo!

Then my friend wanted to take some pictures of us all on the train. She started digging through her diaper bag that was hanging on the back of the stroller and guess what… her phone was gone!! No where. We came to our stop and got off. We dumped out her bag and it was not there.

Ya, that “friendly guy” took it. He had to have. The diaper bag was right there in his face the whole time.

I’ve replayed the scene several times in my head. I wonder what we should have done differently but I’m not sure we could have changed much. Try to move the stroller more? Be rude and not talk to him?

What I want to know is…

a) was he there on the train looking for an opportunity? Did he target us on purpose?

b) or was he really just chatting it up and the phone was just too tempting right there under his nose?

It doesn’t really matter, I guess, but either way we learned a lesson. I’m glad that no one was hurt. Phones can be replaced but these little sweet once can’t.

A few days ago I had read this article I saw on Pinterest about tricky people. (http://www.checklistmommy.com/2012/02/09/tricky-people-are-the-new-strangers/  For some reason my link button isn’t working.) I thought that it had some good ideas for teaching your children and being aware as a parent. I was a little bugged that despite these things on my mind I was not more aware of the Overly Friendly Guy!!

I took the opportunity to talk to my kids about it. Of course they were shocked. “But he was so nice!” and “But you were talking to him!” So confusing for these little ones. I did my best to explain how it happened and why and how to prevent something like that in the future.

So now I’m going to start saying BEWARE OF OVERLY FRIENDLY PEOPLE. If anyone is acting a little too friendly, they want something from you. They are trying to schmooze you over. Smile and be polite but don’t fall for it. Remember that normal people keep to themselves for the most part.

I defiantly learned from this experience. Maybe this post can help someone else too. Lets all keep ourselves and our little ones safe.

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