Plan B

As I mentioned in my previous blog post (Life's a Beach!) on New Year's Day we were all sitting around after making the gingerbread house that Sissy brought and we decided to go to the movies, especially since rain was headed our way and it looked like we would be stuck indoors anyway.  It was 11:36 a.m. and after looking at the movie times for the cinema 30 minutes away, it was a mad dash to make it to the movie theatre by the 1:00 pm start time.  Mimi and Birdie planned to see The Blind Side; Alice and Aunt Sissy planned to see Sherlock Holmes; and Danny, Emerson and I were going to what would be Emerson's first movie and see The Princess and the Frog.   We got to the theatre with time to spare, Birdie ran ahead of us to buy tickets while we got Emerson out of the car.  When we walked in, Birdie came over and said, "I've got bad news!  The Princess and the Frog is sold out."  Bummer.  Emerson was not happy.  Danny and I looked at each and we could both tell what the other was thinking, NOW WHAT!!!  We promptly told Emerson that we would go back to the beach house and watch a movie there (thank god, I brought Santa Babies, along with several Mickey Mouse Clubs).  With heads hung low, it was back to the car for the Devers.

On the way out of the parking lot, Danny asks if we should get lunch.  Great idea, kill an hour and feed Emerson.  Since we were in unfamiliar territory, I got on my new Droid and started looking for restaurants in the area. The pickins' were slim, but then I spotted our Plan B.....CHUCK E. CHEESE.  Almost similiar to a James Bond move, Danny swerved the car into the parking lot and all was well again.  How could any kid not be happy at Chuck E. Cheese.

Away we went, Emerson was in awe from the second we walked in.  Blinking lights, game noises, lots of games to play, and pizza, it was like kid heaven.  Mommy on the other hand could see the germs multiplying by the second and kept thinking to herself, "Where is that GermX, I can't be out of work next week with a sick toddler."  We ordered our pizza, which comes in a combo with drinks and game tokens, good marketing on their part!!  We found a booth, Mommy loused it down, and then we headed for the games while we waited for our pizza.  Emerson had a great time just walking around looking at all the kids playing games.  She really enjoyed playing the games.  She couldn't quite grasp the concept of skeeball but wanted to try several times.  After playing some games, we headed to our booth to eat some pizza, we had a great view of Chuck E. himself.  Emerson was scared at first but all we had to say was that he was Mickey Mouse's friend and then she was fine with the stuffed, singing character.  After eating pizza, we headed out to play more games and ultimately win tickets for the prize station.  One of Emerson's favorite things to do was to pull the tickets out of the machines after she won them from her game.  The ticket redemption machine was just as fun as one of the real games.  Emerson ultimately won two bracelets and a lollipop for 97 tickets.  Funny that 3 things with a total value of only $ .30 costs $25 in tokens to win.  I guess this would be one of those PRICELESS moments.  Chuck E. Cheese Family Combo $25, additional tokens $5, making your child happy after a movie theatre lets her down, PRICELESS.  We are so glad are Plan B worked.  I love it when your Plan B turns out to be a better alternative than your Plan A!!!  It even helped with that sleeping issue we were having at the beach....Emerson was wiped  out on the way home; she fell asleep with her lolli in her hand.  Here's to PLAN B's!!!