Chuck E. Cheese

On the spur of the moment, we decided to do something fun last night for dinner. While Mike was driving home from work, we discussed our options and came up with going to Chuck E. Cheese’s for pizza and games. When, exactly, did Chuck E. Cheese’s come to be Mike’s and my definition of fun? I guess since we have a two and a half year old. Neither of us adults had been there since we were in our early teens, so we weren’t sure what to expect.

But we did have fun — Alex loved it! His favorite parts were climbing the tower to get to the slide (we probably shouldn’t even have bothered buying any more tokens than the 15 we got free upon entry) and believe it or not, playing air hockey. Of course, he didnt’ 100% get the gist of how the air hockey worked, and got as much delight out of putting the puck in his own goal than in Daddy’s, but once we figured out how to make the game last by switching sides half way through so Alex had more opportunity to self-score it was all good. He also enjoyed colelcting tickets from the games, and redeeming them for a Nemo ruler (thanks to Daddy hitting the ticket jackpot on one machine, woo hoo!). The pizza was passable and we were impressed with the security system they have where they stamp each child and parent with matching black light -revealed numbers so that a wacko can’t leave with someone else’s children. Nice touch.

Mike and I marveled that it was much different than we had remembered — brighter (weren’t they very dark places when we were kids???) and seemingly aimed at a younger crowd. Less video game oriented. But, we (the adults!) are DEFINITELY the demographic that is being targeted by the establishment nowadays - -the Chuck E. Cheese animatronic band played 80’s hits like “Big Country” and “I Tumble For You.” You haven’t lived til you’ve witnessed an animatronic mouse sing Boy George. Truly.

What amazed me the most was the attention that Nate in his sling drew from other Cheesers. Mostly people marveling over the “clever contraption” that he was in, and wanting to sneak a peek at the baby. I did have one person tell me “we’re worried your baby is going to fall out.” Now remember, we are at Chuck E. Cheese’s, so these are all people with children. I just didn’t think a sling was all that out of the mainstream, but I guess it is. I was just so grateful I was able to keep Nate that happy and play with Alex at the same time.