Pizza, and man sized rodents, and in-laws...oh my

When I was a kid there was this wonder of wonders...Show Biz Pizza. Everything was excellent from the jumpy balls to the mediocre pizza. And we loved it! Going to showbiz was like walking into a starry eyed child's version of heaven.

I grew up in an upper lower class household where we truly appreciated the simple things in life. We rarely had take out burgers from McDonald's or went to the movies. Going to a place like Show Biz only happened once every few years and it was something we had on our minds for days before and weeks after, much akin to Christmas. The only topper was a trip to Great America...yeah, I said it. Great America, not Six Flags.

But now...

My kids live in a lower middle class household where everything is taken for granted. Until I started staying at home, we had fast food several times a week (purely for convenience) and when they go to (cringe) Chuck E. Cheese, they expect to be back tomorrow. They refuse to eat the pizza because they want to go back to the games, only to walk out of the restaurant proclaiming how "hun-ga-ry" they are before they are strapped into their Eddie Bauer car seats.

The worst part...I'm responsible for that. Every parent wants more for their kids than they had. While I was growing up I often fantasized about all the cool things and opportunities my kids would have. I'm not saying that my childhood was void of all things cool, but the grass is always greener after all. But now as I'm booking my soon to be 2 year old's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese a few weeks from now, I wonder if I'm doing them a service or not. Is it being spoiled or just the selfish innocence of youth? We shall see.

So anyway, we went to Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday. We met Brock's family there for some pizza and Coopery good times. Adult to child ratio 7:4.

Exhausting...completely exhausting. Devin (my 7 week old) spent the day being passed around by grandma, aunt, cousin, and mom. With the exceptions of diapering and bottles, he was pretty low maintenance...did I ever tell you he was my favorite :)? Kyan (3 3/4) ran from game to game absolutely fixated on pumping those precious tokens into as many slots as possible. I'm sure he was just doing his part to keep the economy afloat. Jaxon, though...DEAR GOD! Jaxon was by far the front runner in the naughty olympics. He was climbing the ski ball, crashing birthday parties and just plain running away. He even did the patented terrible two's run-turn around-look you in the eye-smile-turn and run like a bat out of hell maneuver. He used to be so innocent...and blessedly slow. When did this transformation from baby to beast happen?

All in all, chases and retrievals aside, we all had a pretty good time. It is my opinion that they need to change their slogan though, it would be more accurate if it was "Where a dad can be a kid". Between rescue missions, Brock got his game on which was a nice change. Being that I am perpetually pregnant, I'm usually sitting on the sidelines and watching him try to muster the power of Grayskull so he can recapture the boys.

At the end of the day, there were 10 Coopers who needed a nap and one baby who was rip roaring and ready to go.

So what did I learn from this experience?

1.Don't let Kyan near the tokens. 2. Wear sneakers instead of flip flops. 3. Feed the kids before we go because they aren't going to eat the pizza anyway. 4. Keep Jaxon on a kid leash. 5. 3 kids are my limit, at least for the next 3 or 30 years.

Jessi