Avoiding the heat

So, we've been trying to avoid going outside since it's been so freaking hot here. On Friday, we went out briefly to Niki's house in the morning and then to Kidspace in the afternoon--and that was pretty much the last time we went out besides church on Sunday. All we've done is stay inside with the a/c cranked.

Needless to say by this morning the kids were pretty stir crazy. Sammy said to me "mom, can we PLEASE do something fun today?" Poor guy.

I was trying to think of some place air conditioned, that wouldn't cost too much and that would be really fun for the kids. I knew exactly where to go: Chuck E Cheese's. Now it certainly is NOT my favorite place to go, but I figured it was a Monday at 11:30am--how crowded could it be? We would just stay for an hour or so and play games and NOT have any of the nasty food. Plus, my dad is in town on Mondays, so I would have extra help in keeping track of the kids while they roamed around the play area.

Sounds perfect, right?

It was!

Sammy was so excited to go! He kept asking if we were going there for Hannah's birthday because he knows that it is coming up, I told him we were going there just to have fun. He was thrilled.

As I predicted, pretty much no one was there. After getting some tokens to play games, I realized that the kids didn't even NEED the token to entertain themselves there. The only game that Sammy really likes is the one where you shoot the basketball, and you don't technically need a token for that. The three balls are just sitting there and come right back to you after you shoot--without the token. If you put the token in for the game, it will keep score and give you tickets, but Sammy could care less about any of that--he just wants to shoot the ball!

Hannah just likes to pretend to drive the race car games and really is content to just sit and steer the wheel. I put a token in a game or two for her, but since she has the attention span of a gnat, she would usually walk away after about 30 seconds.

I realized that I forgot my camera, so no pictures (for once) but we'll for sure go back again now that I know it's an easy (and cheap) outing.

We had a terrific time and after about an hour we (i.e. my dad and I) were ready to go. The kids put up a bit of a fuss about leaving, but I already had a solution for that--Taco Bell. I told Sammy that we were going to Taco Bell for lunch for our fun day and he was all set to go after that!

We went to Taco Bell for a quesadilla for Sammy, El Pollo Loco for a burrito for Hannah and my dad and I got take-out from Panera Bakery (my FAVORITE!).

I MUST sing the praises of Panera (as Jean does so well here) and say how much I LOVE their Mediterranean Veggie sandwich. SOOOOOO GOOOOD!! I could totally go there every day for breakfast (mmmm, French Toast bagel) and lunch!

We came home and ate, put Hannah down for a nap, and then I ran a few errands while Sammy played with grandpa. YAY for grandpa!

We had a great day despite the heat and I did notice that it was considerably cooler in the late afternoon, so the kids and I walked down to Trader Joe's. And we didn't pass out from heat exhaustion.

It's supposed to be cooling down about 10-15 degrees for the rest of the week, so we should be back into our normal "fun" routine soon.