Wooa-ooh, halfway there, woa-ohh livin' on a prayer

Monday, July 30, marked the official half-way date of summer!!  Summer is half-over!!!  *weary woohoo*

I decided to surprise my kid gang on this momentous date by taking them to Chuck E. Cheese (after all, today is Surprise! Wednesday in my summer weekly plan).  *another weary woohoo*

You know, I remember several years ago (BC - before children) when my brother-in-law, his wife, and their three daughters from Texas came up to visit and Mark and I thought it would be so great to take them all to Chuck E. Cheese.  We'd never been before.  Well, my brother-in-law and his wife were MUCH less than enthusiastic about this plan, and I thought, "Geez, what party poopers!"

I. Was. So. Ignorantly. Arrogantly. Dumb.

AC (after children, of course), we've now had to make several trips to the hell-on-earth that is known as Chuck E. Cheese.  I even invited 2 or 3 different friends to come with me this time, and, NOT to my great surprise, I had NO takers.  I was going in alone, folks.

I'll admit, though, that to spring this surprise on my kids and see their overjoyed faces as we pulled into the parking lot was worth it.  Kind of.  Actually, not really, in retrospect, but whatever.

Shelby was all about the horses.  Of course. She spent all of her tokens on these two rides.  Over and over and over.  And then over again.  20 tokens worth. 

Upon arrival, Noah immediately wanted to run over and wave at the Chuck E Cheese mouse and say hello.  That's the sort of kid Noah is - the uber-social, party guy.  He was perplexed that Chuck E Cheese did NOT want to say hello or wave back to him.  And didn't really understand when I explained that Chuck E Cheese was actually a robot.  "Not like any robot I'VE ever seen!"

Noah soon recovered from the mouse's diss of him and spent most of his tokens on this roller coaster ride.  Over and over and over.  And then over again.  20 tokens worth. 

When the real, non-robot Chuck E. Cheese wandered over to say hello, Noah wanted nothing to do with him. Noah's not a forgiver and he has a long memory. 

When Connor was little, he LOVED the helicopter ride.  I was surprised he was still interested in it.  Autistic kid + spinning = true love that never dies. 

Of course, I had to get the notorious "Connor eye roll" when I insisted on a photo so that this fun-filled, magical trip could be documented.

After his one walk-down-memory-lane helicopter ride, Connor was then all about getting more and more tickets to cash in….for crap.  He was dismayed that he didn't have enough for the 300-ticket Slinkie and wanted to know if we could stay longer so he could earn 300 tickets.  I remembered my promise from yesterday (see Facebook) that I was NOT going to yell at my kids today.  So I squeaked out (hissed?) a barely controlled….. no.

I then especially enjoyed standing in line for 15 minutes (AS FREAKIN' ALWAYS) at the ticket trade-in counter for 8 packs of Smarties and one stupid ugly plastic ring that got lost in the parking lot on our way out.

Once the tokens were gone and tickets traded in, it was that glorious moment that all parents at Chuck E. Cheese look forward to - the MOMENT OF DEPARTURE.  And when we were back in the car, I COULD NOT BELIEVE the time.  12:10.  We were in there for 1 hour.  How in the HAYLLL does 1 hour seem like 900 hours???  Only at Chuck E. Cheese, my friends. 19 hours of NATURAL CHILDBIRTH labor moved faster then one hour in Chuck E Cheese.  Five days and nights of hospitalization in septic shock with the roommate from hell moved faster than one hour in Chuck E. Cheese.  Even WITH 17 free refills of Diet Pepsi.   

I swear Chuck E. Cheese is a freakish science-defying time-sucking warp hole.  JK Rowling was inspired to write about the Dementors (the ghouls in Harry Potter that make you feel hopeless and suck the life out of you) while at Chuck E. Cheese with her daughter.  True story!  Well, not really, but you believed it totally could have been, right??

I then looked in the back seat and saw this gleeful, angelic face on Noah reflecting on the past 900 hours, I mean, 1 hour …

And then I promised them we'd come back in October.  @^&$&^@!!

I. Am. Still. So. DUMB.