Today, quite suddenly, I had an opportunity to see my niece and nephew. My niece, Leah, is almost 7, and my nephew, Jackson, is almost 2. They are in town staying with my mom so that their parents could fly to Arizona to visit a family member who is in the hospital. Since it is almost both Leah's and Jackson birthdays, my mom decided to have a sort of impromptu birthday party for them, and so Chas, his mother, and I, drove to Dublin today to meet them all at Chuck E. Cheese.
The last time I was in a Chuck E. Cheese I was a teenager. I must say that I was rather disappointed. My memory was so much better than the reality before me. Although there were a few things of note. First off, the (poorly designed) animatronic creature/singers were not singing cute little kid songs, but instead songs from the 80's including tunes by Big Country, and (what I thought was the creme de la creme) "I'll Tumble for You" by the Culture Club. Let me tell you, you haven't really heard Culture Club unless you've heard it sung by an animatronic female chicken and a gender indeterminate purple fuzzy thing. Trust me. No, really. OK... maybe it is similar to watching Boy George sing it after all...
Of course I ate pizza, which means I basically blew my diet for this evening, but that's OK, because at my doctor's appointment today I learned that not only have I decreased my blood pressure and brought it to normal (it had been slightly elevated because, as they told me, I was 12 pounds overweight) but I have apparently officially lost 22 pounds in the past 8 months. Wowzers! That's awesome! But I digress...
Leah was very excited to see me. I haven't seen her in quite awhile (over a year) but we always have so much fun when we hang out together. Jackson I had only met once, when he was an infant, as my brother and his wife life in Nevada. I had been warned that he doesn't take to new people and so not to expect much. He was begging me to pick him up and hold him for much of the visit. I felt victorious. ;)
Much of my evening was spent chasing Jackson around the play area, which tired me out pretty quick. I love kids... I really do... but not for me, thanks. The best thing about being an Uncle? Uncles go home... ;)
While we were there, I saw they had one of those cute little machines that take your picture and then prints it out as a "sketch". All in all a very good day.
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15 comments:
holly hell storm, wow what a small world i was just thinking of you yesterday and here today you find me :)
wow how the heck are you hun, very very long time no see.
what are you up to now?? wow we abolutely must catch up :)
my email is
ositabear@aol.com
please mail me with your info so I can keep in touch.
love ya hun
sherice
Aww, cute pictures :)
First off, the (poorly designed) animatronic creature/singers were not singing cute little kid songs, but instead songs from the 80's
Oh man. That made my night!
When I was last at the Cheese, I remember the animatronics singing 80's songs, too. All too well. It really brings a whole new... perspective to them.
Your neice and nephew are very cute. =D
There's this song...by Tim Wilson...called "Chuck E. Cheese Hell". I heard it on the radio in Chattanooga and nearly drove off the road, I was laughing so hard.
We took the grandson to Chuck E Cheese a few months ago and the songs and routine were hauntingly familiar. Thank the Gods they sell beer!
My daughters first job 10 years ago was there. They used to all take turns playing Chucky. Everyone had to wear a cup. Seems that lots of the little urchins used to try to gender test Chucky by kicking. Apparently in the minds of little kids girl chuckies feel nothing when kicked and if you do cause pain then you know it is a boy chucky. One particularly viscous Friday night she came home so bruised up. After that she started working at Subway.
I'm glad that you had a good time. And those are cute pictures of you.
I so wish that I had also done that picture thing with Leah and Jackson. Dammit! That doesn't mean we have to go back sometime, does it?
Thanks! They turned out pretty good, actually. Chas and I should have done one together.
We don't have to if you don't want to... I know it was hard on you. We can, of course, just bring our digital camera the next time we see them. It will save us on tokens, too. :)
My sister's first job was there, too. She hated it. Especially when they had those nasty play pens with all the plastic balls. It was part of her job to clean that thing at night. I wont go into the details but suffice to say it was NAS-TEE. Sick! Icky! Gross.
The cage o death isn't that where the WMD's are located?
Aweee, cute pics! MM chucky cheese pizza!
Awww
I love kids. I am actually starting to think about becoming a foster parent one of these days (don't tell anyone).
I am so proud of you with the weight loss. I am on a diet myself (recovering from some messy medication) and I am heartened to hear success stories.
You go.
Re: Awww
A bit late on my end, but... How sweet! Thank you so much. So far so good. :)
Re: Awww
Bravo. One is never to late. I just replied to something from over a month ago that I had lost in my email. How sad.
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