I will never go to Chuck E. Cheese's again!

About 3 years ago I took Maya and her friend to Chuck E. Cheese's (CEC) just for fun. I hadn't been inside one since I was little so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Well the restaurant was older and therefore a little dingy. It was small and very crowded with all the games inside but the girls seemed to have fun. I bought pizza, pop and a bunch of tokens we spent a couple of hours there. A CEC you are awarded tickets when you play a game the tickets can then be turned in for cheapo prizes. The girls were pulling tickets out of the machine like crazy. Chuck E. Cheese even made a couple of appearances and tossed tickets out to anyone willing to gather them up off the floor. So by the end of the night we had a lot of tickets. Shortly before the girls ran out of tokens the mom of two adorable kids gave me her tickets (about 10 in all) before they left and I added them to our stash. Her kids were little and hadn't done many games, mostly just rides. As the door shut behind that family a woman, who was sitting close by me, came over and told me that the tickets we had just received had been stolen from her son. I told her I didn't think so because I had noticed that family playing some games earlier in the evening. She tried asking me just how many tickets I was given and how many my girls had. Ignored her and gathered up my girls as soon as they were done. We fed the tickets we had through the ticket counter and printed a receipt. The girls had collected around 300 tickets, enough for a couple of nicer prizes. As they were pondering over their choices the woman approached us again and asked "Just how many tickets do you have?" as she tried to look at my receipt. I ignored her. She went to the 19 year old manager and complained. He came over and told me there was a problem. I explained how the girls got so many tickets and offered to show him my receipt for all the tokens I bought. He admitted that he didn't think we had done anything wrong. The girls picked out their prizes and we left quickly.

Fast forward 3 years. Our Girl Scout troop decided to spend their hard earned money at a day at Chuck E. Cheese's. I convinced my co-leaders to go to a store in a different suburb than I had gone before. The evening started out okay. The restaurant was bigger and cleaner than the one I had been to before. WE got our food fairly quickly and then the girls and Hannah and Elias started playing games and the trouble started.
1. A teenage girl approached Maya asking her if she could have her tokens. My refused then turned to me and told me she wasn't sure what this girl was asking her. The girl took one look at me, said "Oh?!" and walked away.
2. Elias found me after about a half hour and told me another child had taken his cup holding his tokens and tickets. He had set it behind him on the seat of the driving game he was playing. The boy just walked up and took it while he was distracted.
3. The same teenage girl walked up to the ticket counting machine I was using, reached around to the front and hit the print button. I called her on her scam. She said "Oh, my bad." I told her it wasn't her bad she did it on purpose and that I had seen her trying to scam my other girls all evening. She walked away. I did get my receipt and finished counting my tickets.
4. A girl walked up to the table one of my co-leaders was sitting at with all the tokens (before we ate) she was eyeing all the cups with tokens. My co-leader asked her is she could help her - the girl gave her a disgusted look and walked away.
5. At the end of the day several of the Girl Scouts reported kids trying to take their tokens or tickets, kids pushing their way to the front of the line to play a game, and people (adults and teens) asking them questions they felt uncomfortable answering - how old they were, where they lived, what school they went to etc.
Apparently Chuck E. Cheese's attracts people who do not have the same morals that I have. Therefore I will never go to a CEC again.

He Bikes

Yesterday afternoon I finally fixed Elias' bike. The chain kept coming off and this time it was really stuck between the gear and the bike frame. I got it apart, got the chain back on, and tightened the wheel up to the frame and made some other adjustments. The back wheel now spins perfectly.

I had taken the training wheels off weeks ago but Elias still needed to practice balancing before he could practicing pedaling. Elias, happy to have his bike back, started coasting down the driveway with his feet inches off the ground. HE kept veering off to the left, I reminded him that he needed to look up and steer. He still veered off to the left. He blamed the bike. "The bike doesn't have a mind of it's own. It does what it is told to do." I told him. He grumpily agreed but still was blaming the bike under his breath. I went off to investigate the lawn mower.

After awhile I noticed that Elias was now coasting down the driveway, turning onto the street and pedaling a few feet before losing his balance. He even started on the street, pedaled a few feet and lost his balance, falling into the grass. He was yelling at the "stupid bike." "That's right," I said " the bike is saying to itself that it doesn't like this boy riding on it so it's just going to keep pushing you off." He giggled at that and went for another go at it. He continued for awhile until I told him to come in for dinner. He was furious at the bike at this point and shouted over and over that he was going to put his training wheels back on. I kept silent and just led him into the house.
After dinner there was still enough time to go back outside. I went to work in the garden, Elias started back up with trying out his bike. The dinner must have worked wonders because after a few minutes he yelled at me to watch. He was riding. More than a few feet, he was riding down the street. He turned himself around and started up again. Again he rode down the street again, and again and again. He did it all by himself. I never even got the chance to run down the street behind him holding onto his seat. Though I supported him from afar and encouraged him he did it himself.

That's Elias. He can't stand to be wrong or not be able to do something and he won't give up until he can get it right.

Way to go Elias!

Oh! I figured out the trail-a-bike problem and attached it to my bike too yesterday. Hannah and I took a few trial runs down the street and back. She loved it. Now that Elias can bike on his own we can go on some bike rides around the neighborhood. Now we have a whole new batch of parks and playgrounds we can get to without driving.

Happy Birthday Maya!!

Ten! Ten years ago today at 1:28pm, 33 hours after my water broke, 2.5 hours after I (completely exhausted at this point) started pushing Maya was born. All 10 pounds, 2 ounces of her. I can't believe she is already 10!

Yesterday she had a slumber party with a few friends. I took them all to a giant indoor playground, then we walked around a nearby park. Maya opened her presents while we waited for the pizza to arrive. We watched Hotel For Dogs (very cute) with our pizza then they ran outdoors for some fun in the back yard with the dog while it was still light out. I got to read my book while they played outside. Cake and ice cream didn't happen until about 8:30. They exhausted themselves out enough during the day that they only stayed up until 11:00pm.

We won't be celebrating her birthday with extended family for a few weeks so I gave her my present last night as well. A digital camera in her favorite color, purple. She has been using it non-stop since she opened it. I love that she can take as many pictures as she wants but only prints the ones she really wants.

Everyone was awake by 7:30 this morning so on account of the short night of sleep and the busy day yesterday we took it easy today. We watched Hotel For Dogs again with lunch and had cake and ice cream again since it's her real birthday today. She got to blow out her candles again too.

Happy Birthday Maya!