Chuck E Cheese...Where a kid can be a kid and a parent can lose their mind

Here she is...isnt she cute?

So...all summer my 11 year old sister spends a few days each week at my house during her break from school. I actually love this because she is so helpful and I like spending time with her. Today was her last day to come over before school starts again. :( Sad for me...but exciting for her since it's her first year in middle school. (Poor girl doesnt know whats coming) Anyway, since it was her last day I let her pick anywhere in all of Indianapolis that she would like to go today. And she picked....drum roll please.....CHUCK E CHEESE!! Jack squeelled with delight....my heart sank. Dont get me wrong...I love that they have so much fun. But that place is pure chaos and Im probably paranoid...but I have an irrational fear that I will lose one of my kids or that someone will take them. Even with their little hand stamp system...come on...they dont really even check the numbers. But since it was her choice for the days activity to Chuck E Cheese we went.

Hand sanitizer at the ready...diaper bag packed full of spare diapers and clothes in case the inevitable happened where one or both of the kids peed their pants (in Laylas case through her diaper and on her clothes)...coupons printed...and we were off. Both kids completely passed out on the drive...thank you Lord! This was a good sign...meltdowns would be warded off by this 30 min cat nap. We arrived...no one argued about the food we ordered, tokens were divided equally without complaint and the fun began. Another plus...the place was practically empty on a Tuesday afternoon...could I ask for more? Then the food came...I was sure that there would be meltdowns when I dragged the kids away from their precious games. And once again...no meltdowns. I asked myself...is this for real? Both kids ate like champs...even the grapes and oranges (I always try to force them to eat something relatively healthy even when we eat out). I was so proud. Now...Ive never made it out of this place without some kind of horrendous screaming meltdown from someone so I thought for sure it would come when the tokens ran out. But once again...they happily turned in their tickets and tallied up their points. Unfortunately we only had a grand total of 156 tickets. If you know Chuck E Cheese you know that will get you next to nothing. So...here is where I was sure the screaming would begin. But miraculously all Jackson wanted was a small 10 point package of smarties leaving Jill the remaining points. We left all smiles...no complaints...and no meltdowns. This was truly a small miracle. Here are some pics of our fun. 

Layla and her favorite ride

Jill squeezed into this ride with Jack

Jack Jill and Chuck E

Layla and Chuck E

I am thankful for this fun meltdown free day. I love being a mom and seeing joy on my kids faces. I swear they really were happy even though I can never catch them smiling on camera. Ill miss Jill now that shes going back to school. But we will always have next summer and by then we'll have the new addition to join in on the fun chaos and meltdowns :)