I don't know how I've managed to do it. Frankly, I'm proud of myself. I managed to make it through five years without having to go to the mecca of all childhood germs and nastiness: also known as Chuck E. Cheese's. In my mind, it's still Showbiz Pizza "where a kid can be a kid" or Chunky Cheese's. My earliest memory of Showbiz was when I was a little kid, I remember jumping in the ball pit there (you KNOW you LOVED that) and my Mom frantically standing at the entrance of the ball pit yelling at me to come out of there. Well, my kid self was kinda pissed because I was having the time of my young life, jumping off of the padded sides into the blue, yellow, and red balls. After making my way to my Mom (who was using the Mom voice), I asked her why I had to quit playing - and she told me that someone just threw up in the ball pit. So, if Mom hadn't been paying attention, would anyone have said anything? Or would all of us kids just continued in oblivion to jump in throw up. Ugh. I'm praying that they evacuated the whole thing and took every ball out and lysol-ed each one individually, as well as the net sides and the padded sides. Yeah right. They probably just waited til everyone who might have seen the throw up left and just re-opened the thing with the next group none the wiser.
Anyway, I took W to a birthday party at Chuck E.'s last weekend. No, C didn't go. No way was I gonna roll a 3 month old up in there with the flu epidemic going on - okay, I wouldn't have taken her anyway - but Jimmy stayed back home with C where the germs are all our own - and I took one for the team. I will give props to ole Chuck E...when you enter, you get these stamps that show up under black light only that match you and your kid together to make sure that when you leave, you leave with your kid only and not try to steal anyone elses. I kinda felt like I was at the club circa 1998 with x's on my hand saying that I wasn't 21...but, that's another story for another time.
I'll preface all of this by saying that W had a stinking BLAST. Loved it, loved her friends, loved the games, loved the pizza, and loved to dance. But, I learned a few things. Here goes:
1- Lots of people wear their pajamas to Chuck E. Cheese's. I woke early, so I could shower and put on my jeans and new shirt from the Gap that I got with my Visa gift card (thanks Ricky & Mary!). Apparently, I could have skipped all of those things and got an extra hour and a half or so of sleep and just wore my Paul Frank fuzzy pajama pants with my Ugg boots. I would have fit in....well, not with the Moms that were attending the party that W was at, but with everyone else.
2- Chuck E. Cheese is a ghetto master. Yes, he does live on Jordan Lane - which says a whole lot. But, when the rap music began and Chuck E. rolled out with gold chains on and doing a rap, I about died of laughter. I forgot to video that part :(
3- Chuck E. can do the Cupid Shuffle in that big ole outfit.
4- My daughter sucks at ski ball and I thought that the grandpa playing ski ball with his grandkid was going to ask me to evacuate the premises because my kid kept walloping her ball on his grandkid's slope.
5- When you are an adult, the tokens seem to multiply in the little cup. I kept telling W that when the tokens ran out, we had to go. If I was the kid, that would've taken about 5 minutes. When you're the adult...it's neverending.
6- There are waaaay too many people celebrating birthdays up in that joint at the same time. Call me selfish or spoiled, but I don't want a joint birthday song sung. I want the spotlight. Sing to ME! It's MY birthday! It's MY party! Not the 5 other kids - and me. It's all about ME!!
7- Not everyone keeps their kids at home when they are sick. Just saying.
8- Just because your sweatshirt says "Harvard" doesn't mean that you went there.
9- I think that I did successfully hide the fact that those tickets can be transferred to get whack little prizes that will junk up my car and house. Woot. Score one for me!
10- I have "talk to me" written on my forehead somewhere.
11- Despite these things, my kid wants to have her next party there. I'm gonna fight that with every single fiber of my being. I'd even - sigh, are you ready for this? - allow W to have a sleepover with several little giggly girls than to have to go back to that joint.
So, after confirming by our stamps that I was really leaving with MY kid, we left Chuck E. unscathed. Sort of. I do have a stuffy nose today. I'm just passing some sort of blame. My littlest and biggest girl has a sort of cough and a stuffy nose. I bet it's something that we picked up at that ole nasty Chuck E's house in the ghetto. I guess I can count it as a winning situation - I didn't see any throw up :) Woot!
....and, for the record, I don't really drink, but if I did, I find it interesting that ole Chuck E. sells the beer ;) Wonder who brought that idea to the table?? A couple of beers may have made the Cupid Shuffle even funnier to watch.
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