Adventures in Swimsuit Shopping

Summer is here and the dreaded quest that comes along with it:  trying to find cute, modest swimming suits for myself and three not so little girls.  Since Madi and Charly are getting bigger, I decided it might be fun to take them along this year.  Now, anyone who has had the privilege of shopping with two tween girls is probably laughing already,  FUN is the understatement of the year.  Keep in mind that we also had the still nursing 6 month old in tow.  The only thing that could have made it better would have been having our sweet PICKLE there as well.  Luckily, we left Pickle and Reed home to play with Aunt Karen and the Wilde boys...
So we headed to the local Wal-mart with definite ideas about what swimsuits the girls wanted to get.  Charlotte wanted a blue and green tankini, Madison wanted a turquoise and purple tye-dyed tankini.  Reed said he wanted a green swimsuit and flip-flops with fishes on them.  Emma,  Dora flip-flops if you please, Mom.  I'm thinking, this is a pretty tall list, I hope I (and Wal-mart) can deliver....I just want something that covers everything, and hopefully, doesn't make me look as wide as a BARN!!!!  If it's cute that's an added BONUS!!!!
Three hours and MANY, MANY, MANY swimsuits later we have discovered that. Charlotte can't fit in a tankini (the bottoms keep falling off), but she is happy with the lime green, purple and turquoise tye-dyed one piece we found for her.  We found a great deal on Reed's suit, came with flip-flops and a cute t-shirt that he won't care about, it is GREEN, but no fishes on the flip-flops.  Emma got pink flip-flops with no Dora, but a cute new suit made up for no Dora on the shoes.  Mom found a tankini with board shorts over the top for a decent price, and I don't look like I need a WIDE LOAD sign to wear it, it's even CUTE!! 
Madi is another story, she has tried on every tankini in the store, and has her heart set on a very cute one with butterflies all over it...only problem is the bare back.  I tell her that it is her decision, but I don't think the bare back is OK...she decides to get it and we take them home to show Dad...well, Dad is definitely NOT OK with a bare back on his 11 year old, and tells her that it needs to go back...I was so proud of my girl, she didn't cry or throw a fit, she just listened to her Dad, and followed his advice.  Yesterday, I took her suit back and traded it for a turquoise tankini, still cute as can be, but this time with a covered back.
We learned an important lesson,  you are never too young to be modest, and swimsuit shopping with your girlies is lots of fun!!!  ( just make sure that your tankini has a back!!)