Flashing Lights and Seizures

It seems like every other commercial on TV is for Chuck E. Cheese’s. Some of you may not notice this, but if you have a kid who is always begging to go, you notice it big time.

Since I have enough of loud, screaming children at home, I really don’t need to go someplace where there are hundreds of loud, energetic children in a concentrated area. Eli has been begging to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s for as long as I can remember, and up until now, I was pretty good at distracting him. That is until Eric hit me with a low blow.

When I was little, there was Showbiz Pizza. Anyone remember Showbiz? I would get to go with friends, but my parents absolutely refused to take me to Showbiz. Eric said, “Are you going to deny your son Chuck E. Cheese’s like your parents denied you Showbiz?” Well, mother f*ck! How can I argue with that?

Sunday was the big day, and we loaded up the kids and headed to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Dude! I don’t get how all of those bells and flashing lights don’t send children into flailing seizures the second they walk in the door.

After some greasy pizza, we took the kids out to play. We found that Eli loves to plunk tokens in machines even if he has absolutely no idea what they do. Georgia loves to ride the Big Red Clifford (whose claim to fame is that he vibrates slightly) over and over and over again.

Eric and I discovered we still rock at ski ball. The only problem is that it’s really hard to keep an eye on Georgia when I’m playing ski ball. First, she jumped in between a kid and his video game and took over playing. Oops. When I caught her and told her to come help mommy at ski ball, she thought the object of the game was to attempt to walk up the shoot and put the ball in the holes. It’s not like I can very well chase her up the shoot.

Eli was a little bit better at ski ball. We just have to teach him to throw underhanded. He chucks that ball overhanded like he’s pitching at the World Series. At one point, he threw it into the next lane and surprised the woman playing. I’m just happy he didn’t take off anyone’s head.

By the time we left, two hours later, Eli had collected 135 tickets to trade in for a prize. We found that 135 tickets were enough to get almost nothing. We had enough for two Airheads candies. Luckily, Eli loves Airheads, so he was pleased.

The second we left, Eli started asking when we were coming back again. Oh, sweet lord, I don’t think I can do that very often. That place wears me out – complete sensory overload. We decided we can do it maybe once a quarter. I just have to listen to Eli ask about Chuck E. Cheese’s every day for the next few months.