Chuck-E-Cheese

Last week, my friend Mollie hosted a lunch playdate at Chuck-E-Cheese.  I can honestly say I haven't been to there since I was probably seven...and I have been scarred since then from the scary mouse.  She assured me this one was clean, and the robotic animals weren't too frightening, so we headed up there to check it out. 

She was right about most things...the place was super clean, it was completely empty (just our group and one other family) and the kids had a blast.  Chuck-E was still creepy, though. 

At the :30 minute mark of every hour, he comes out and plays with the kids, then initiates the cuban shuffle.  Yes, you read that correctly.  So weird.  At the end of the dance, he throws out free tickets to grab.  You would think it would have been a free-for-all with the tickets, but two year old's don't really grasp the concept.  Instead, the moms were on the ground scooping up the loot.

When he initially walked out, Knox was eating some pizza and observing him from afar.

Once he got closer, Knox refused eye contact and the hand shake.  I wish this was in focus...he kept saying, "NO mouse.  NO!"

Once Chuck went back into hiding, Knox adventured out again.  

There were a lot of toys that he liked riding, and even some "ticket" games that he enjoyed.  The nice thing about the place is that a token is .25 cents, and EVERY game is only 1 token.  I hate those places where most of the games are 4 tokens, wiping you out of money in the blink of an eye.  He was able to play 'til his heart was content on $5...success!

This one particular car ride took a still photo...how funny is that?  His passenger is a total creeper.

The main attraction of the afternoon was the monster truck...go figure.  He rode this thing a bajillion times, and loved every second.  

It was on hydrolics, so it went pretty high.  This was his first ride, so he was a bit nervous when it initially started climbing.

Claire rode shotgun for one trip.

And any time he ran away, this is where I found him.

Once we gathered all of our tickets, we were able to redeem them at the Chuck E. Store.  He and Claire looked it all over before making their decisions...

He wanted a lot of random things, but we ended up with stickers, a frog and a fake watch.  It was like Christmas. 

A great time was had by all, and dare I say we'll go back.  You should check it out...worst case they have wine and beer on tap :)