We were like six little Fonzies.

We all stayed cool, even though Dylan's spectacular birthday plans had to change. We had planned to go to the local waterpark (Oceans of Fun) today. Dylan was going to take his friend Adam and Lauren was going to take Will. We woke up this morning to cloudy skies and a rainy forecast, so we decided to change our plans and go to POWERPLAY. You have to type it in all caps, because that's what POWERPLAY does to you. It's loud. It's overstimulating. It's frantic. It's POWERPLAY. The people who work at POWERPLAY give you cards to swipe at each game instead of using money (kind of like Vegas, when you have credits on the slots and you forget you're spending money).

POWERPLAY makes you, and everyone around you STARTTALKINGLIKETHISANDSWIPINGYOURLITTLEPOWERPLAYCARD
OVERANDOVERANDOVER,INFACTYOUSWIPEDANDRECHARGEDYOUR
POWERPLAYCARDSOMANYTIMESYOUQUICKLYFORGOTHOWMUCH
MONEYYOUWERESPENDING.NOTTOMENTIONALLTHEFOODYOUATE
ATTHEUNLIMITEDPIZZA,TACOANDMASHEDPOTATOBUFFET.

I'm going to have nightmares tonight of little kids reaching for my pocket saying, "SWIPE THE CARD, MAMA! SWIPE THE CARD!"

At the end of the day, we had the following:

1) Four happy, overstimulated kids
2) Two overstimulated adults in dire need of a drink
3) Two whoopie cushions (one broke in the car on the way home, awww shucks)
4) Two sets of yucky "hilbilly teeth" (no offense to my hilbilly readers, it's just what the teeth were called)
5) Four matching bracelets
6) One magic popping eyeball
7) One whistle (thankfully this went to Will's house... sorry Lisa and Pete!)
8) Six rubber bouncy balls (none of them can be located at this time.... the dog may have eaten them... I'll get back to you)
9) Two plastic frogs that seem to have no purpose or function
10) Two pieces of candy
11) One female adult whose competitive side came out while shooting little boys and girls in lazer tag
12) Two adults who realized they really need to improve their long-lost "Galaga" skills

Overall, the day was a success. I can't believe our son is almost NINE years old.