And my weekend, overall, even better.
Nonstop rain, wind, lightning and thunder...throw in a little hail for good measure and my inner Happy Hoosier Girl comes out in me. I'm like a kid at Christmas. It's very magical. I am back in an environment that makes me feel at home.
On Friday I had posted on Facebook "...looks like it (the storms) skipped us again". No sooner had I said that, my boys said they were going outside, I walk to the door with them and as we open the door a clap of thunder rang out and the sky had gone from a bright shiny, partly cloudy day to ominous and dark.
I couldn't believe it. Within another few minutes the winds picked up and next thing I know there is lightning and then rain.
And then we all went to my patio and watched Mother Nature give us the most spectacular show we've ever seen since we lived out here. Soon there was hail dinging the carport and the lightning had surrounded us all over and the rain was coming down nonstop. It was like we were driving through the car wash.
IT WAS AWESOME!
I shut off the air and opened the windows. The blinds were blowing in every direction and you could smell the rain in the air.
Saturday morning we awoke to a sunny day. I walked out onto my patio and a thick layer of mugginess enveloped my body.
I loved it.
I was like a fish who had jumped out of it's bowl and someone tossed me back in. I would take humidity and flat hair days any day over the dry, oven-like temps of the desert we are forced to live with on a daily basis.
My kids slept in very late, and when they awoke we headed down to Chuck E. Cheese.
That was a fun experience. It wasn't cheap, and I tell you that place is like a wolf in sheep's clothing. They market to children(which is bad enough), but what's worse is when the inner child of an adult gets sucked into the madness as well.
Each of my kids had $15 in tokens. And my daughter shared a few of hers with me because she wanted me to win this game where you take your finger along a maze with this little red laser looking light and try to reach the end of the maze in like, seven seconds. It's very addictive let me tell you. She kept telling me mommy your better at this than me. See, last time we were there, well....I won her 100 tickets because I made it to the end of the maze. Unfortunately my fingers weren't as nimble and quick as they were last time.
Next we proceeded to the Fruit Ninja game. It was this 55 inch flat screen and it was calling my name. Me and my daughter slowly walked toward the big screen with these huge eyes of children who just woke up Christmas morning to find their living room filled with toys. We stood there in front of the screen and debated who would go first. I told her she could, then she told me "Mommy, I need you to help me." Of course I was elated, because it did, indeed look like a fun game. So there we were clawing at all these watermelons and kiwis and strawberries like alley cats in a brawl.
I wonder how ridiculous I looked clawing at this screen.
I didn't really care to be honest. Because we were having so much fun with that game that I think between my daughter and I we spent at least three or four bucks on that stupid game each. We just kept plunking in tokens like we were feeding a gumball machine. And despite the fact that we didn't get a handful of gumballs and only a spittle of tickets for all our malicious clawing on that screen, we kept on going.
It was maddening.
I finally told her, "One more game and then we move on," at which point, we finally did.
My boys were entertained with the race car game. Swerving and leaning with the on screen car as though they were in a Fast and Furious movie. I could not help but laugh at the seriousness that was upon their faces. They got sucked in as well.
Priceless I tell you, absolutely priceless.
Then Chuck E's "spokesperson" got on the overhead speaker and announced to all the little
I think had Chuck E told them to hop in a pool of gelatin on one leg and sing the theme song to Barney they'd of done that too.
Next they had them sit down while they explained the rules of this little excursion..."No pushing, no shoving, no grabbing tickets out of other kids hands." With that said, they were motioned to stand up and at that point they tossed the tickets into the air.
This is what it looked like:
Yes, that is my daughter, hands out ready to catch her share of the prize. I'm telling you this reminded me of the bouquet toss at a wedding. This, I believe, is good practice for my daughter when that moment arrives. Nothing like preparing your daughter for that nail-biting moment of whether or not you will catch that bouquet. I have to say, she did make out pretty good with those tickets.
Let's hope that's a sign of things to come. *wink*
So then came the time at the end of the day to cash in the tickets.
That was not so pleasant.
My boys handed the girl their ticket vouchers and she was helping someone else. This poor teen was the only one behind the prize counter. There is a line of anticipating children and their parents and the woman in front of us, had a stack of vouchers for both her children at least a mini-notepad thick. I said "Oh my gosh, that's a lot of tickets" and the mother told me "They've been saving these up for a while now." These kids had 6,000 tickets to spend. Her daughter got a Jackie Evancho doll, which was 2,500 tickets (and probably cost the mother more in tokens on their many trips than just buying the it in the store for $15). Her son got some blow up ball, which is what held up the line a good fifteen minutes. The girl that took my boys tickets disappeared behind the door to the back never to be seen again. And there sat my sons tickets on the counter, under the other calculator...unsupervised....just waiting for anyone to snag.
Finally, I told the kids if someone wasn't there soon, we were going to leave and I was going to go home and call/complain to the corporate office and tell them to increase their employees on a Saturday afternoon. That I think my kids worked hard enough, and I spent more than enough money at their establishment to have to sit and wait while an understaffed prize counter rep went to blow up a ball is not acceptable.
After what seemed like an eternity, the manager showed up, ball in hand speaking to the woman. They finally left and the manager asked who was next. I raised my hand with a tone in my voice saying "I'M NEXT!" Apparently he didn't care because some guy buying a toy of some sort, got preferential treatment, and when the manager came back, I pointed to my sons tickets on the counter and said "Those are my boys tickets!" He took care of them, and my boys took their sweet time, and normally I'd rush them a bit with a motherly nudge, but I didn't bother.
Then it was my daughter's turn. She knew what she wanted because by the time we got to her, she had ample time to "peruse the goods".
We finally left the building. On our way out I saw another group of kids heading towards Chuck E and my daughter looked at me and said "Mom, can I try again?" I said "I don't think so. You've cashed in your tickets already, we're done for the day."
And she just grinned at me.
Overall it has been a good weekend.
Good weather, good kids, good times.....can't ask for much more than that.
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