Every year when we get ready to do back to school shopping, it never fails that my son wants and usually needs a new pair of Vans. They're his go to shoes for life basically. Its that time again and he's narrowed it down to one of these ( I have a feeling we will end up with the shark pair lol):



On a related note, I too am going back to school! After almost two years off I'm finally going back to get my masters! Squuuuueeeee! I'm nervous but very excited. Most of my classes will be online, but that doesn't mean I don't get excited about picking out school supplies, backpacks and things for myself as I get ready to go back to school as well. I've had my eye out for the perfect backpack or messenger bag. These take the cake:

And, while we are at the Vans store I might as well get these for myself:



My old ones have definitely seen their final days. haha. I love love love the Vans store. Have you ever been in a retail store and the staff were just so helpful and kind that you wanted to contact the highest level of management and dote on them like they were your own children?  Well that may be a little dramatic, but the people who work there are the nicest and most helpful people I've ever experience. We were having trouble getting the right size shoes for Conrad last time,  the poor kid has wide feet like his mom, and the girl helping us just dove right in and helped him squeeze his feet into about 5 different pairs of shoes until we found the right fit.