A party yesterday

Slow again on the updates, I see. I've got to get better at that. In my defence though, I work shifts and am on nights right now.

Anyways...

Took the kids to my niece's birthday party yesterday. They had it at one of those playground/arcade places. When I mentioned it to a co-worker he said he had thought about an opportunity to invest in one.

Well...

Having been there, let me tell you. If you EVER think that you'd like to have one, make sure you never have to be IN it! Or make sure you've got a wholesale account with Advil or Tylenol!

My God. I do not exagerate when I tell you that there were 400 kids in this place. Plus parents. PLUS the actual arcade noises. I couldn't hear a grown-up talking to me at face level, never mind my 4yr old talking from 3 feet below me.

Good grief. I was not expecting that at all. We've got a similar place in my town, but it's on a much smaller scale and only has a handful of arcade games in it. When I've been to ours, it's usually during the week so it's extra quiet. Even the few times we've gone on a week-end hadn't prepared me for the level of noise yesterday.

Well, at least the older one had fun. And the baby got held by grandmas and other mothers. We earned enough tickets in the games to get a nice little prize before we left too.

I'll say this too...The security is awesome. When you enter, they give your family a stamp that shows up under ultra-violet light. Turns out they're number stamps, not daily ones like a theme park. When you leave, you have to show your stamps. If you're number doesn't match the number on the kids' hands, YOU CAN'T LEAVE WITH THOSE KIDS. Pretty good idea! This is the kind of place, with it's size and sheer number of people, where kids could get scooped pretty easy. The staff, though are right on top of it though. I thought that was a pretty awesome idea. You might lose your kids IN the place for a few minutes, but at least they wouldn't be able to leave without you.

Well, I thought I'd share that.

See you all next time.