Success at last!!!

Well, mostly anyway……Middle E has finally graduated to big girl undies, after a long and frustrating power struggle. She still has the occasional accident (more occasional than I would like, but one cannot complain in these circumstances!) So–to celebrate the big step in her life, we promised her that we would take her to Chuck E. Cheese for an evening of fun. We left the littlest E behind (as well as the camera, which I could kick myself for doing) and had fun with just the two “big kids”.

I remembered going to Chucky’s when my little sister was a kid, and that it cost my parents an arm and a leg for some gross pizza and broken rides/games. I didn’t want to pay $15 for a less-than-tasty pizza, so we ate at McDonald’s on the way(not much better, I know, but we were dealing with preschoolers here…..), and then just played games when we got there. I found some awesome coupons for tokens on the Fat Wallet forum–$10 got us 40 tokens with 60 free!– along with a printable reward chart for pottytraining. Middle E was able to receive 10 additional free tokens for being pottytrained, so she was in heaven. And this particular Chuck E. Cheese was extremely clean and well-kept. I was very impressed!

It was a fun night–I think we enjoyed it as much as they did, and I did come away with one picture from the evening, compliments of the Chuck E. artist’s booth. Thanks, Chuck!

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives

Back in college, I was a big restaurant connoisseur. (I had to look that up, by the way….I can never remember how to spell it!) I even had my own restaurant journal, where I could log the prices, favorite entrees, addresses, and overall impressions of the restaurants I visited. Nowdays, I still love going out to eat and finding new, fun places–BUT, 3 children under the age of 5 (and the lack of money that comes with that situation) keeps me from frequenting noteable dining establishments. My restaurant requirements now include (and not in any particular order):
1) Cheap kids meals
2) Easily accessible bathrooms
3) Patrons that do not mind screaming and food throwing
4) Quick service for quick getaways
One of our favorite places to take the kids is just a few blocks from our house. Some of you have referenced it before—the great Mullen’s Dairy Bar. Unfortunately they do not have a website–they ought, it is a fun place that people would like to discover. I believe this person (or maybe her sister) even worked at Mullen’s.

With grandparents, for Middle E’s birthday and just for fun

On Thursday, I was able to meet my friend Morning Rose for a playdate at the awesome new park in her town. Afterwards, we went for lunch at the Market St. Diner and Bakery. What a fun place! Every time I have driven past it, I have wanted to stop but never had a chance. So it was nice to finally try it out and do so with friends. When I googled it, I was surprised to find it is a part of a network of restaurants. They all look really fun (and delicious!) Perhaps if I can ever work through my two aforementioned reasons for not going out, I will try them. Otherwise, I will just walk back down to Mullen’s and enjoy my medium-thick strawberry shake and mini corndogs…..