Chuck E. Cheese Tradition
If you do something with your grandchildren that they really like … it may quickly become a tradition. So it is with Chuck E. Cheese and the Nordquist children (Luca age 7, Lincoln age 5, Anna, age 4, and Kai age 10 months) in Auburn, Washington. Our visits wouldn’t be complete without our standard visit. They sell good pizza, but that isn’t really the draw for the children. It’s the NOISE, ATMOSPHERE, AND FUN.. “Kid Friendly” is the phrase that comes to mind when I think of the bright lights, and the exciting gimmicks and toys.
Chuck E. Cheese is the kind of place you don’t want to go to if you have the beginnings of a headache. (It would be much more adult friendly if it offered a Tylenol dispenser.) Whether you have a headache when you go in chances are you WILL when you leave, but it is worth it to see the eyes and faces of the children inside who are running from game to game playing as fast as they can.
“I need more tokens!” Is the standard phrase of the children. Tokens may be purchased separately or as part of a meal deal. I suggest you watch the newspapers and check online for extra deals as no matter how many tokens you purchase it will not be enough. Some of the games spit out tickets that can be turned in for prizes at the end of the adventure. Anna had a total of maybe 12 tokens and at least 10 of them were spent on this car ride with Chuck E. Cheese himself … mostly because it has a camera that takes your picture and she loves having her picture taken.
In our case turning in the tickets turned out to be the crescendo of the entire experience; meaning that two of the “Experencee’s” had total melt downs when they discovered their tickets would not purchase what their little hearts desired. Add that to the fact that right after that we were going to leave the building and it’s not so surprising. We could attribute some of that to the exhaustion from running from toy to toy for an hour and a half. By the time we reached the car, however, the tears had stopped, although the cheeks were still damp, and the joyful parts of Chuck E. Cheese were taking over once more.
The most memorable part of the day for me, though, was very poignant and sweet … even with all of the bright lights and whistles surrounding me. It came at the moment just before the melt down when the children had run out of tokens, pizza, and cinnamon bread and went like this:
Luca: Mom, I need just “one” more token for something I really, really, really want to do.
Mom: There aren’t any more tokens, Luca. We are done.”
Luca: But I really, really want another token.
Lincoln: Here, Luca, You can have my last token (as he opens his hand and reveals one shiny, gold token). You can use it (as he hands it to her with a big grin on his face).
That is just enough to melt a Grandma’s heart. I’m so proud of that kind little boy.
After all of the energy Kim and I spent eating pizza and refilling our drinks, we decided to get some hot, cinnamon bread. So we got two orders … one for us, and one for us to share with the children. Don’t talk to me about guilt, it was Chuck E. Cheese for heaven’s sake!
All in all … even with the melt down … it is well worth the time and effort and noise. It’s a good tradition.
That sounds like a ton of fun!
Even though Curtie, Mikayla and I are a little too old for Chuck E Cheese, next time we should all go. (we tend to have a little more energy than the adults, so we’d keep the kids occupied for ya) hehe
Funny that Anna would spend all her tokens on the picture thing, thats exactly what Mikayla did when she was Anna’s age.
I think we have stacks of black and white pictures of Mikayla and Chuck E Cheese somewhere. hehe
Such cute families! Wish that Old lady aunts could see them more often. Squeeze them all for me – and of course you will have to remind them who ‘Aunt Ann’ is …. ahhh well.
Sounds like you guys had such a great time!! Can’t wait to do that stuff with my own kids!