This gorgeous Choo Choo train was painted by my little 2 yr old boy, whilst some lovely guy decided to reach down under my baby girl and steal my purse.

It’s very rare that I get chance to do cute little things like this with my kids. I didn’t with my (now) teens so the opportunity to have second chance with my newbies is amazing.

This was a free stall at the Royal Oak mall for the holidays. I don’t come here for anything other than Pak n Save to be honest but this morning I thought I’d bring the babies... the 2 year old adamant to walk a lot.

We did the entire circuit of the mall and I thought, why not? Free painting of little moulds... cute. Gold coin donation? Easy :)

But a guy was sitting, watching, whilst his 2 kids were also painting. He decided it was his opportunity to steal a purse from a mum on her own, trying to make a nice memory with her littlies.

He’s on cctv, bending down, reaching into my bag of grocery shopping to take my purse. Walks off, stops, looks around. 3-4 times he did this. And it looked like he exited the mall.

At least his kids didn’t know what he’d done I suppose when he came back to get them, probably straight past me when I realised my purse was gone, confused and upset.

My purse was peachy orange, embossed with my initials.. nothing designer, but leather and personalised. For me, from the UK, from my mum. Obviously bank cards ($15 each to replace), my licence ($38.40) etc... and approx $200 cash... I never have cash but I sold 2 playpens via trade me this weekend and a rocking chair. This was to justify funding activities I planned in return for my boys during the holidays.

So this has made it into an awful memory for me: whilst I was trying to make a nice memory, a reminder of how I allowed an opportunity for someone to reach under my baby girl to take my purse, even though she was at my side in the pram... What if someone had taken her? The “What if’s” are horrible.

I’d like a positive. So here is his photo and the $200+ train. PLEASE SHARE.