Where a kid can be a (crazy) kid

We ventured out to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend with some friends. Like most kids Drew loves going there. We never eat, we just go for the cheap games and unruly children. Avery was completely thrilled to be there.

When she wasn't trying to eat the tickets Drew had won, she loved watching all the action around her. This is the difference between Drew and Avery at this age. Too much excitement made Drew throw up. Avery loves to be in the middle of things and enjoys all the excitement and chaos. She even got to sit on a ride and loved going up and down.

This time Drew found a new game where you stand on a platform with pictures of spiders and when the spiders back lights up you stomp on it and "squish" it. We must have stayed at that game for 30 minutes just pumping it full of tokens.

And what would a Chuck E. Cheese experience be without random children abandoned while their parents chat on their cell phone or zone out at the buffet somewhere on the other side of the restaurant? Drew was having a great time minding his own business at the spider game when this little girl coughed up from out of nowhere and jumped on the platform. Drew didn't know what to do so he got off. He stood helpless on the side saying "Hey, it's my turn!"

I never know how to approach a stranger's children. Especially when they don't respond to your calm request to knock it off or go away. Do I scream at her like a lunatic and hope her parents don't see me or do I meekly ask her again to wait her turn? At what point can I physically remove this child from the game that my child has paid for? I kept asking this little girl to wait her turn as Drew was not done yet but she looked at me like I was speaking Chinese and continued stomping on spiders while Drew helplessly looked on. Finally she jumped off the platform and headed strait to my stroller and climbed on it to play with Avery. I had to physically remove her because she just would not listen to me politely asking her to get off the stroller and out of my baby's face. She could not have been more than 3 years old. Where was her mother?! But anyways, I digress.....

We took a break from the spider game and ventured out to other games. Drew found a drum set that he enjoyed playing on.

Wait, who's that in the background? Oh --she's back. She must have been kicked off a different game by another annoyed parent. This little girl was just running around alone jumping in on everyone else's games. Seriously,where are her parents?!

Drew loves to play all the games with his dad and I don't know who's the bigger kid while we're there: Brent or Drew

Drew won lots of tickets throughout the evening and was able to pick out some fun prizes.
We all went home exhausted and happy and I was surprised that the little girl was not waiting at our car for a ride home.