Today ended a 10-day stretch of babysitting. That included our camping weekend, which was our choice. We get a 2-day rest and then we are on the job for Sunday and Monday. After Monday we get our “vacation leave” for about 2 weeks. We will definitely need to recharge our batteries.
Today we took the girls over to Olympia for lunch and games at…………………
Chuck E. Cheese. The girls love to go there, of course, and we oblige them from time to time. Besides that, Uncle Dennis works there and gets us some discounts. Our son, Dennis, is manager at Chuck E. Cheese and even though it was his day off he met us over there to play the games with the girls. They LOVED IT that he came to be with them. When we first got there Mackenzie and Zoey went to the prize counter to see how many tickets they would need to trade in for merchandise.
To get the best stuff they will need about 6,000 tickets. OK…not going to happen in one day. So a lesson in patience is underway. We ordered a large cheese pizza for the girls and Uncle Dennis while Bruce and I got the salad bar. I waited for our food and the girls went off to play some of the games, which are only 1 token each. We had coupons and got about 280 tokens, plus the food, for $39.00.
Mackenzie tried her luck with this Checkpoint Rally game.
Zoey asked Uncle Dennis to get into the giant rocking horse motion ride….and he did! I was surprised he did that but he often indulges his nieces with stuff like that.
Our food soon arrived and the gang had to stop all the kid stuff to come and eat. The pizza is good and the salad bar is even better. Fresh ingredients and a nice selection of cold items to choose from. Zoey tends to be a picky eater and I told her if she didn’t eat one piece of pizza she wouldn’t get dessert. She quickly sat down and ate. At this point I didn’t even know if they had dessert at Chuck E’s. Later I asked Dennis if they had dessert there and he said there was a cinnamon stick thing we could order for only $3.00 and it would serve all of us with a small helping. Great, that was all we needed anyway. It came in the shape of a small pizza and was cut into 16 small wedges. It was time for more game playing now while I wandered around taking photos of the whole thing.
The girls team up for some games.
Papa helps Mackenzie win some tickets.
Papa loved playing the Basketball game for the girls.
Uncle Dennis is good at the games and he played several of them with the girls and scored lots of tickets for them. The employees here at Chuck E.’s are able to play an occasional game with the guests and hand over the tickets to them. Customer relations. Since this was Uncle’s day off he could play lots of games with the girls.
This is Mackenzie’s pile of tickets which we will save for a return trip.
By the time we were ready to leave today, the girls had amassed over 950 tickets between them. Add that to the 500 tickets they have at home and we’ll let them redeem the tickets after our next visit. We’ll probably take them once in August while we are still babysitting. It was a good day and by the time we were ready to leave, Mommy was home. We dropped them off and came on back to the motorhome.
We have a busy couple of days ahead getting caught up on grocery shopping, laundry and house cleaning. While we are on a little “leave time” we are planning a short trip to Soda Springs, Idaho to visit my aunt and uncle. We will be leaving Tumwater on Tuesday. We’re leaving the RV at the park and just driving the car over. We can stay at Aunt Anne’s house so there is no point in hauling our entire household with us this time. It isn’t much time, but it gets us out of here for a few days (and we get a lot of peace and quiet).
Until next time…..so long for now!
19 comments:
I just love the look of concentration the girls have while playing the games. I guess it's a fun thing for kids, but when mine were small I just thought it was a big rip-off. You really need to be a grandparent to enjoy indulging kids like that, lol.
Just another tempting for me to want to be your grandchild. However, I like sausage on my pizza, and the salad bar ;-)
Ah, yes. Chuck E. Cheese. I remember those days! They DO have a good salad bar! We celebrated Jonathan's 7th birthday with a Chuck E party. It was a place that both of our boys could enjoy at the same time even though they are almost 7 years apart in age.
The noise level at Chuck E, however, is a lot to handle. Glad you didn't go on a busy weekend!
ooh love the loot! Gold I tell ya! What a fun place!
Cheers!
Great job in posting all the pics of Chuck E. Cheese! Looks like a terrific place for kids. I've never been to one, have seen them, and always wondered what the big attraction was - now I know!
You and Bruce sure deserve a good vacation after all the time you've spent looking after the "Grands" this summer. It's rewarding and a lot of fun, I'm sure, but I also know it can be very, very tiring too!
Enjoy your "days off".
Oh I remember taking our son to Chuck E. Cheese. It was one of his favorite places to visit/eat.
Looks like everyone had a really great day.
It must be nice to have an uncle that manages a Chuck E and it looks like he was a great sport about riding on the ride with Zoey!
I think Bruce had fun too! :)
You all get rested and enjoy your time off!
Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com
We always have a blast at our Chuck E Cheese location.
Have a nice couple of days off rest!
Cheers!
Chuck-E-Cheese always freaked me out as a kid. Maybe that's where my aversion to mice started. And who would want a mouse mascot at a food joint??? Just sayin! LOL!
Nellie
One more comment...Have you been to the Chuck E. Cheese in Tacoma? That one (west of I-5 near the mall) has two stories. We went there many years ago and it was a lot of fun!
Carol K -- no, as of yet we haven't gone to the CEC's in Tacoma. Since they opened this one so close to Tumwater, we've just gone there.
Nellie -- you got a point there !!
I remember Chuck E's well from taking our girls there and look forward to taking our grandson there. Thanks for the flash back!
Have never been to a Chuck E Cheese but have heard about them. Looks like it would be a fun place for a big kid like me. I know how tiring just visiting can be & can only imagine how draining it must be to look after several small childred. I don'thave much experience in this area but I do have some fun memories of the limited experience I did have one time.
Every day someone of one of their blogs gives me my first chuckle on the morning.
Today you win Nellie!
Ah, Chuckie Cheese, we did a birthday party at one for Adam, what a day that was, found out later that Pizza Street was a whole lot cheaper for kid's birthday parties, fun for all. the girls look like they are serious game players. Have fun on your rest days. Be safe out there, Sam & Donna.
Oooooo! SkeeBall! That's always been one of Suzy's favorites, and she hooked me on it too. Haven't played for years. We'll have to find a Chuck E down here. There is a neat pizza place here in Benson. They have a buffet, where you can choose slices of several different pizzas, all you can eat (including fruit pizzas for desert), plus they have spaghetti, chicken wings, and a nice salad bar. There are video games in a side foom. No Skee Ball, though. Thanks for sharng the fun of Granding!
looks like so much fun! Enjoy your time off!
The last time we went to Chuck E. Cheese, they had a dancing gorilla on stage. He scared ME so bad I almost wet myself..Even the lure of pizza won't get ME back there again..Your grands look like they fear nothing..not even a huge mouse...
The last time I visited a mouse house, I ended up with a splitting headache from all the noise. More power to you!
The girls are going to have a very memorable summer with all of the places you have taken them and it's extra special that they get to spend it with their Grandparents. What a wonderful thing you are doing for them.
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