An invitation arrived this week to celebrate a boy's birthday at "World o' Fun". Tables were reserved, party packages were chosen, and the afternoon cleared in calendars.
On Saturday, picked up Niece (3) and Nephew (just turned 10) to go to World o' Fun for The Boy's birthday. Did I mention The boy is in his mid-thirties? I didn't. Oops. Now you know.
Niece, Nephew and I leave a quiet, wintry afternoon and enter into a world of screaming (in fun and out of frustration) kids, shouting parents ("hey! get back here...right now!!! no, don't stick that up your nose!" sigh), employees ("do you have a wristband for that and a ticket for this?"), friends greeting one another (got to really meet The Boy's Girlfriend for the first time and some of our friends whom I haven't seen in months), and the machines doing all their bells + whistles to attract attention to the kids ("pick me! play ME!!").
Did I mention I had a headache before entering this World o' Fun?
Here's the Birthday Boy as he collected the tickets he won in the 30-second-booth where you grab as many tickets as you can.
Took a turn to watch the empty table - which held purses and bags - and to wait for the delivery of the pizza to the table. [felt a bit like my mom must have when the family would go to an amusement park. three kids and dad take off for the best roller coaster and leave mom with the bags on a bench. her "job" was to watch us while we were in line for two hours and wave whenever we'd randomly turn around and go "hi mom!"]
Then I followed around Niece as she made a friend, Lori's nephew Blonde Boy (BB), also age three. The two of them were best friends forever (at least, for the afternoon) and followed each other around the play land and the game area. (BB told Niece you have to be "vewwy, vewwy cayhrfuwl" (as he nodded and held a play gun that looked kinda real - black and silver and heavy-looking)).
We played a few games, collected a few tickets, and then they gazed in wonder at the Prize Case. Both walked away with their prizes - a purple, inflatable fist on a handle for him, and a pink, inflatable fist on a handle for her .
After a full four hours in this screaming room, uh, world of fun, it was time to go. Dropped off the kids at home and made a beeline for a cafe where I could sip a hot beverage, read a good magazine and enjoy the silence. (hhmm...silence seemed to be a goal this week).
