Double Play

On Saturday Ben had two birthday parties to attend. One at Chuck E. Cheese (the most despised place in the world) and one at the bowling alley. The one at the bowling alley was for his best old friend in the world, Sammy, so he had to go to that and the CEC one was announced at school so he had to go to that because the next best thing in the world after Sammy is Chuck E. Cheese (urrrrrr). I can't even type it without shuddering. So no moderation on Saturday. It was a day of pizza, cake, candy and mad running about with about 10 other kids.


We decided to divide and conquer. Mark got the first shift at CEC (urrrrr) and I got the second at the bowling alley. Now all the kids from the first party were invited to the second party. So it wasn't just Ben who was hyped for the day but about ten other children as well. Lovely.


I didn't get to see the fiasco of CEC (urrrrr) but to give you an idea Mark said that they had to circle the parking lot three times to find a parking space and there were 5 other parties going on at the same time. Thank God I missed that. Ben came home covered with blue and green sugar as one of his prizes was a sugar dipping stick that you dip into, what else!, SUGAR. I had to explain to Mark that the child does not get to pick just any prize. Needless to say Ben was hyped and ready to go to the next party. Even though he had just spent the morning with the birthday boy. There were two hours between parties. I don't believe he sat down once in that time.


By the time I arrived at the bowling alley many of the parents who had gotten double shifts were already knocking back beers. They would soon move on to the harder stuff. Sammy, the birthday boy, was sitting staring vaguely off into space. That is until Ben arrived. Then Sammy was ready to party. There was much discussion over who would sit where as Ben had to sit next to Sammy. There could be no other option plus he needed to bowl right after Sammy because "they are best friends so they do everything together." With Sammy's side-kick Riley, plus Alex a friend from preschool, both there the fun began. Apparently the main order of the day was to establish who could out chop and out karate stance the other. I don't understand why there was so much complaining over who sat where because they never sat down. They continually chopped and grabbed each other while jumping from one karate pose to the next while shouting "HAAAAYAAAA!" for the next two hours with intermittent breaks to bowl. All the while each child's mother along with one grandmother attempted to get them to keep their hands off each other. After a while, good mother that I am, I just turned my back and pretended I couldn't see them. I mean what was the point! Then they all sat down to their second meal of pizza and cake for the day. Followed by a present opening attempt that looked like a small barely controlled riot. A good time was had by all and by that I mean there were no major injuries. At least nothing permanent.

By the time I dragged Ben home he was wiped out. He went off to bed and I swear was asleep by 7:30 and he didn't move from his bed until 7 the next morning.