Every parent has a time in their life when they say something they never would have imagined they would ever say. My time has come:
I like going to Chuck E. Cheese.
Today I took the car to Costco to get our tires rotated and was faced with a 3-hour wait. There is a CEC (you know I’m hooked when I start abbreviating) across the street from Costco so I decided we could wait it out there.
The picture above was taken at 1:00pm on a Monday afternoon. There were two other children in the entire place other than Theo. We ordered a pizza, I ate from the salad bar (won’t make that mistake again) and Theo was entranced by their animatronic Chuck E. Cheese robot.
My caveats regarding a successful CEC outing include:
— Near deserted conditions. You get to play whatever game you want without waiting and there aren’t a million kids with a billion germs all over the place.
— Brand new location. Our CEC is spotless and clean because it’s only been open for a few months. Once wear-and-tear sets in, we’ll have to abandon and find another, younger, newer, more attractive version. Facts of life.
— Timing it right so that you arrive right after the technicians test all the machines and leave trails of free tickets streaming out for the taking. No better lesson to teach your kids than maximum value for minimal effort and cost.
Downside: all that effort and ticket-earning grants you the privilege of choosing between all sorts of useless junk that a knick-knack averse person such as myself can’t stand. But a visit to CEC is about the journey, not the destination.
Thumbs up, indeed, Chuck E. Cheese. I can’t believe you won me over.
Adventures with Theo 
Hi Christina
I just saw your segment on KSL. I'm delighted to know about your blog, it's going to be very useful in our house!
I know this isn't the right place for this, but I'm hoping you'll include our event in your 2013 Holiday Kids' List. Here's the info on it:
RISE, Inc is holding a Breakfast with Santa for members of the community! Santa will arrive at 8:00 am and will be joining the families for breakfast.
This is an open house so feel free to come anytime between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm. Santa will be there the whole time! If you just want to stop by for a picture with Santa we will have opportunities for that as well. Anyone attending the breakfast gets a free picture taken with Santa!
We will have a delicious breakfast buffet, including pancakes, eggs, bagels and cereal!
During the breakfast there will also be a few booths where you can buy Christmas crafts or gifts. If the breakfast isn't your idea of fun, please stop by and check out the wonderful things our clients have made! You may find the gift you've been looking for or the ornament that will finish off your Christmas tree!!
The cost is $6/person or $20 for a family of 4. Additional children will be $3 additional adults will be $5.
The money made will all go to our clients. Our goal of late is to Dream Big! We asked our clients if they could do anything in the world and money were no object what would they want to do. They expressed that going on a cruise or going to Disney World would be their dream. We have decided to combine these and plan the RISE Disney Dream Cruise! We can't do it alone so we appreciate all of the support we receive!
2751 W 9000 South, West Jordan. call Beth at (801) 735-4911 for questions or tickets.
Thanks so much,
Ann Hatch
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