(no subject)

[the_rck]

Scott's week of third shift is now officially over. He's sleeping right now after having been up for twenty hours. He's got Monday and Tuesday as vacation days, Monday so he can try to get back on a day schedule and Tuesday because it's his birthday.

This morning, Cordelia had a birthday party to attend. It was at Chuck E. Cheese, and she adored the place. I was less impressed. The noise, flashing lights and hordes of people all bothered me. I'd probably have done better if I'd managed to eat breakfast before going, but I'd been kind of assuming that Scott would take her and that I'd have time to eat and shower while they were out. Sadly, Scott was running late and wasn't in a position either to stay at the party or to be sure of getting back to pick Cordelia up when it was over. (He arrived about fifteen minutes after the end of the party. I know that the birthday boy's mother was not tracking the attendees. There were too many of them in too challenging a space with too many other kids.)

The weather on the drive to the party and on the way back was nasty. The roads were slick with the lane markings almost completely invisible, and the snow was blowing like crazy. I think the wind was the biggest problem.

Cordelia's now adamant that she wants her birthday party to be at Chuck E. Cheese. I'm equally adamantly opposed to the idea. Scott's also against it but mostly, I think, from an expense point of view. My opposition has more to do with never wanting to face that environmental stress again (and I doubt I'll get that wish). I don't even get to the point of budgetary considerations.

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

My parents despised Chuck E. Cheese when I was a kid and their hatred of it became my own. When is Cordelia's birthday? Maybe letting her pick the theme and activities will distract her from the Chuck E. Cheese desire.

[the_rck]

Her birthday is in May. We've got time.

My hope is that she'll get distracted by the other things she wants for her birthday party (there's a long list).

[kyrielle]

Do you have time to find an alternate option, some place you'd like better that she could maybe fall in love with by then? I used to like that place when I was little too but they are overwhelming.

[the_rck]

We've got two and a half months, so I think we have time. I need to discuss options with Scott when Cordelia's not around. We've done at home parties exclusively so far and rather like them, but they have a very hard cap on the number of kids she can invite that's low enough not to allow for all the girls in her kindergarten class, let alone her local cousins (the one in Seattle and the one in Atlanta will probably forgive us for not inviting them) and non-school friends.

If we're going to drop a lot of money on a party, I think I'd prefer one of the places with the big bouncy structures. At her age, the opportunity to run and jump and climb for an hour and a half is better than just about anything. Scott has mentioned trying one of the local museums, but I'm worried that that will be too sedate for her age group.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

You have my sympathies -- that place is crazy.

Kendra attended a couple of Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties that were on weekdays. It's almost totally empty then -- a very different environment from what it was probably like today. If you absolutely have to have a party there, it might be helpful to ask the management to help you to pick a time when nothing else is scheduled. Though actually even with two or three other birthday parties at the same time, when it was on a weekday it wasn't too badly crowded.

Whatever you decide, good luck with this.

[the_rck]

Weekdays during the day or weekday evenings? An evening party, we might be able to manage if the work gods smile on us, but there's no way we could do a daytime party given school and work and such.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

It's been a few years now, but I think they were late afternoon to early evening, maybe 4-6ish.