Chuckie Fun

On Saturday we were celebrating Emma's 4th birthday and were invited to Chuckie Cheese to celebrate Laila's 3rd birthday today. It's a school night; the party doesn't start until 6pm and it's up in Burnsville. This all meant that we wouldn't be getting home until well after their bedtime and I'd have a house full of cranky kids the next day. We haven't hung out with Nick's cousins in almost two years, outside of holidays, and didn't plan on missing a social opportunity to help patch up the differences.

I had forgotten how expensive Chuckie Cheese can be. I spent $30 on 150 tokens, $9 on four fountain drinks and $22 on a large pizza. All of it was worth the joy in their eyes and the smiles across their faces. Addy met a new friend, Barney, and couldn't get enough of riding the train with him. Sam was a nice sister and spent some of her tokens on giving Addy rides or taking her picture. Seth was conservative with his token spending so I had to help him out at the end. We hung out until the end of the party and packed up around 9pm. Sam left with a four inch back scratcher, a whistle of some sort, plastic hands that clap together as you shake it, a bookmark, inflatable microphone. Seth earned 296 tickets with my help and borrowed Sam's last four tickets to trade-in for the 300 squishy monster thing. The guy behind the counter asked Sam if she wanted the one he was playing with. She lucked out and graciously shared her little monster with her sister for a few moments.

In the end, I was loaded up with a bunch of pictures that Sam kept taking of Sam riding in Chuckie's car. I think I walked away with a good prize. Memories.