Parking spots and grocery carts

So, you know you're the parent to small children when all of a sudden the best space in the grocery store parking lot is NOT the one closest to the door, but rather the one closest to the cart return. These days, I find myself secretly saying "score" when I pull into the parking lot and the space right next to the return is open. This is the case, even if the cart return is miles out into the parking lot. When I find that premium spot, it's like heaven. No lugging a baby carrier (which seems to get heavier by the second) in my left hand while I try to convince my three year old to keep ahold of mommy's right hand. I can grab a cart, and put my three year old in the basket before pushing the cart gracefully around to the other side of the car and hoisting my baby in his carrier into the front part of the cart. The parking space becomes even more important as I am coming back to the car with my purchases. (This could be groceries or any number of items, since I pretty much find as a mother of small children that I limit all of my shopping to places that have grocery carts.) It is a great blessing to be able to unload your cart, children and all in one load. Then, swiftly swing the empty cart into the cart return and head off along my merry little way. To those who have never tried this dance, this may seem like an insignificant difference. But let me tell you, when I DONT get that primo spot, I honestly find myself wondering how many steps away from my car I can go to get a cart before I become that bad mother who left her children in the car unattended. Is one spot far enough? Can I justify going across the isle of the parking lot? How about two or three spots? Is that okay? Now, in this justification process are many mitigating factors, such as weather (hot days this process is terribly difficult), the level of crowdedness in the parking lot (maybe I can just leave the cart in an empty space and hope it doesn't roll into the side of the H2 Hummer there....), and of course the store. Winning the shopping cart/parking lot game is a particular challenge for those who shop at Aldi. (Now, if you are not familiar with this experience, you should try it at least once. I'm not saying it's for everyone, and you do need to know some of the "rules" of shoping at Aldi if you are gong to be successful.... but it's worth a try just to say you have.) Anyway, one thing you need is a quarter to get a shoping cart. No quarter. No cart. This also means that there are no cart returns in the parking lot itself. So, this is a case in which getting that primo spot close to the front door is important. There's pretty much nothing to be done except haul the kids the distance from the car to the carts, unless you get lucky and someone gives me their cart for a quarter exchange in the middle of the parking lot. (This is an insider Aldi shopping tip that the "regulars" know.) Here, to be honest there have been times I have considered just giving up my quarter after unloading all of the groceries in the car, because at that point, after bagging my own and lugging it all to the car, I just don't have the energy to do the three-year-old tug of war, and baby carrier lugging dance. I just want to plop the kids in the car, and hope that the 20 steps or so that I take away from them to return the cart and get my quarter back (which is actually a different quarter at this point) is too far.... or maybe I can do it if I'm quick and leave the doors open on the car......