Chuck E. Cheese

Tonight was Jake's first excursion to Chuck E. Cheese. We were celebrating Dexter's fifth birthday (Dexter is the youngest of our friends the Jacksons' three boys.) Here he is at about two months celebrating with his parents at a Moroccan-themed birthday party we threw for Ali in 2002.

Chuck E. Cheese kind of reminds me of kid's cereal. It's addictive for the kids, and kind of disgusting for the adults. Cocoa Puffs? Cookie Crisps? Who's idea was it to create all these dessert-themed breakfast cereals? C.E.C. is similarly designed to appeal to kids while repelling adults with sticky floors and soggy microwaved pizza. And Jake got the full C.E.C. experience when I dipped a napkin in a big pitcher at the kids' table which I thought was water. Turns out I used Sprite to wipe away all the birthday cake on his face. But that gave him the sugar-crusted sticky layer that is required at C.E.C.

Jake loved it all. He loved being with the Jackson boys, he loved the games and rides, he loved the Chuck E. Cheese that visited our table, and he loved figuring out that he could...well.....let's just say, "assume ownership" of coins from other people's coin cups and put them in the slots of rides he wanted to get on.

Here he is on one of those rides:
Here are the girls: Heidi, Ali and Sadie

And here's the output from a "sketch artist" machine they have set up, which I was actually pretty impressed with:
One neat thing about C.E.C. is that when you arrive with your kids, you're all stamped with a matching serial number which they check when you leave to make sure you're taking home the right kids, and not just some kid that got stuck to you.