Peaceable Kingdom

Today was the first full day of what will be about 8 weeks of summer vacation. I have had to break up three fights so far, although really, I could have probably stayed out of it. There was no blood, no broken bones, just lost of screaming and two very red faces. Had they not been making such a racket while Christopher was trying to sleep, I would have been more apt to just let them wear themselves out. I'm assuming today was a glimpse into the future for the remainder of our time off.

Last night was an exercise in both frustration and disgust. The original plan was for the whole family to go out to dinner to celebrate the end of the school year. Steve called around 5:45 and was still over 200 miles away, so we went for Plan B. My first mistake was asking the boys where they wanted to go. Hoping against hope they would choose something like Applebees, you can imagine the look on my face when they both sprang to life with "Chuck E Cheese!!!".

I did a quick mental inventory - games, safe place for Chris to run around, decent enough food - "Ok -sure! Let's Go!"

That was my first mistake. Under normal circumstances, CEC is not my favorite place to spend time, but the kids do like it so we parents just put up and shut up. In hindsight, however, my sensibilities should have gotten the better of me and put an end to the idea before it took root.

The first night of summer vacation? Really? I agreed to this?

It was crowded. Given. The service was horrible. Not surprising. The whole experience terrified Christopher to the point of him literally trying to climb inside my shirt and refusing to remove his face from its spot, firmly implanted into my neck.

And the bug that attacked us last weekend? Well, evidently it is making the rounds across the Valley, because there was "evidence" literally all over the floors.

I let the kids play out their tokens, get their prizes, we boxed up the cardboard pizza in a cardboard box and went home. Chris finally came up for air, the kids had fun and I guess in the end it was not so horrific. It was just not exactly how I had invisioned the first night of summer to be.