THE BEARS AND THE SEA AND THE MOUSE AT CHUCK E CHEESE

Tonight was the grand unveiling of my niece Aubrianna's artwork at the Lutz Children's Museum. I guess several months ago her teacher had entered a few of her students' artwork to be reviewed, and her's was one of the pieces chosen to go on display. I'm not her mother, but I don't think I could be much prouder! The silly part about this whole thing was that my niece was completely oblivious to the fact that her teacher had entered it. So when I asked her what it was that I was going to see.....she informed me that she wasn't quite sure. Hehehe.

So Jeff and I hustled our rears to get to the museum in time, and it was pouring by the time we got there, which was a total bummer. The parking for that place is atrocious, so we had to park way out in the next solar system and walk through deep, fat puddles. I wouldn't have minded so much if my shoes weren't open toed and I wasn't wearing stockings. But moving on.

I want someone to explain something to me. If you're walking into a children's museum, wouldn't you want to see something a little more inviting than this?

Seriously, though?!! SERIOUSLY! And then there's a sign next to it that says "Please don't touch me. My fur will fall off"" Why would I touch that? It's a huge, dead, stuffed bear, for the love of Peter, Paul, and Mary!!!! But I sure didn't get the "Come on in, kids!" vibe. It's a frikken bear!

Again, moving on........

The place was PACKED. Being claustrophobic, this was not an ideal situation for me to be in, especially since there were like 100 children running in every which direction and screaming at the top of their lungs. The hallway is quite narrow, and I found it super amusing (?) that mothers thought that they could just plow through the crowd with their strollers. I wanted to say, "You could try slamming that stroller through the wall too, and I'm pretty sure that won't budge either." It was like they weren't even aware that they had BABIES in these strollers who probably weren't thrilled that they were being jostled into strangers who wanted to get out of the way, but couldn't.

My poor neice looked mortified. FIrst of all, we were making a big to-do about it, because we wanted her to know that we're proud of her accomplishments, even if she doesn't remember what they are....and she's not great with a ton of attention. Secondly, she didn't remember what she made, so we had no idea what we were looking for. And then EUREKA!!!, we spotted her name, and her beautiful seashell collage.

Maybe it's because I'm her aunt, but I think this is really awesome. I love her use of color and texture. There was a lot of oohing and ahhing and many hugs. I am very proud of her.

After we found the picture, Brie Brie loosened up a little bit and started exploring the rest of the museum with her brother. To stay true to the theme of the ocean, she ended up posing for this picture:


Now, if there was a picture of THIS at the entrance, I would feel like I had entered a kids' museum!

After the festivities and the ceremony, we treated the budding artist to a night out at Chuck E. Cheese. I have never been to this place. All I knew is that this was the place to be as far as my niece and nephew were concerned.


The minute I got out of the car, and saw this beaming face of this mouse that looks like he's totally up to no good, I knew that I was one hundred percent screwed! Children, children, children, EVERYWHERE! Running, jumping, screaming, kicking,......oh, brother! I like kids, but not when they appear to have lost their ever loving minds!

But I could understand the excitement. There were games everywhere. Chuck E. Cheese is a mecca of lights and sounds, games and toys. A child's dream come true. And Aubrianna was very comfortable, weaving through the colonies of children to get to her favorite games. An hour and a half later, the really yucky pizza was just about gone, every token had been played, and we were ready to go. I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited the doors of Hades.....I mean....Chuck E. Cheese, and headed home.

Now I'm in bed, popping another antibiotic for my tooth infection. Other than that, it's been a great day. I'm a happy auntie. :)


~T