7/13/2010 Shoe time

Once again, we arrived at a trip destination only to discover that Julian's shoes were ready to be thrown out. This first happened last March, when we arrived in Truckee for the ski trip and found several holes in his shoes. When we got back from the ski trip, he got new shoes, which were replaced once again with the shoes we brought to New York. Thanks to the heat wave and a week in the country, he didn't wear them much. Good thing, because the sole was about ready to come off.

I ordered new shoes from Zappos.com on Sunday, thinking that would improve his footwear faster than waiting until the weekend and then having to go to a dreaded mall. And the shoes arrived today -- with free shipping and no tax!

Good thing, because today Julian's shoes looked like this. The sole is more off than on.

It's funny, people I talk to about shoes -- including other parents -- find that kids outgrow shoes before wearing them out. But for both boys, outgrowing shoes is a much slower and easier problem to keep up with than their total destruction. From what I can tell in photos, Julian was wearing his previous pair of shoes as of June 16. So even with a week of downtime in Pennsylvania, this pair lasted less than a month.

Both boys are on their 4th pair of shoes this year. The way they blow through shoes, the speed, price and ease of buying their shoes online is a very clear win. I'm adding zappos.com to my "quick links."

7/13/2010