Boys' Night Out With The Mommas

I absolutely love my cousin Stacey. 

When I was in elementary school and she was in high school, she used to babysit her sister and me after school. When she went off to college, she even let us come stay with her one weekend. And, I can't tell you the number of memories I have of her taking us to the pool or out on some shopping adventure or to the movies. I'm not really sure why she always let us tag along, but I was definitely glad she did. 

When it was time for me to get married, guess who volunteered to throw me a shower? And, when I was pregnant with Hadley, guess who pulled out the fancy party stuff again? Yep, Stacey. She's always been there for me.

God in his perfect timing has really blessed me not only to have her in my life but that we both had our little ones at around the same time. Our kids make perfect playmates which over joys my heart, especially since I get to spend even more time in my adult years with one of my favorite people!

Most of our play dates usually center around our visits at Granny's, but recently we thought it would might be a good idea just to take the boys out by themselves for a special outing focused on them. Since Caleb has been asking to go to Chuckie E. Cheese's for over a year and I knew there was one near where Stacey and her family live, I suggested that option and they were quick to agree.

Dan wasn't too interested in Chuckie, but Caleb liked him (especially when he had a sign that said "Follow Me" for the kids to get free tickets)!

To be honest, part of why I hadn't taken Caleb yet was that I expected to be nickel and dimed to death. I didn't really remember from my childhood how much these things cost, but Granny warned me that when she took a couple of my cousins several years ago, they just kept wanting token after token for the machines. Really though, with our coupon, it only cost about $15 for both of us to have pizza and sodas and a cup of tokens. You can hardly go out to fast food for that these days and we were there for almost three and a half hours. I was definitely happy with that and it was completely enough to satisfy Caleb; he never even thought to ask for more. 

Actually, I think they had as much fun climbing in the playground equipment as anything else. 

I don't think the newer Chuck E. Cheese in Winchester has any of the toys to climb in which is part of why I opted for the one in Manassas and was glad I did.

Caleb pretty much never has soda (I mean like I could probably count on one hand the number of times he's been allowed to have any and even then it was usually just a few sips), so when he got the opportunity to pick what he wanted from the machine, boy was he happy!

I thought the pizza was actually pretty good.

Stacey took a few pics for us on her phone.

Aside from climbing around, eating pizza, and sipping sodas, we got in plenty of arcade games too. I wasn't sure how much there would be to do for kids that were the boys' age but again was pleasantly surprised.

(P.S. Excuse the poor photo quality. I took my point-and-shoot one vs. the Nikon so I didn't have so much to lug. It makes a huge difference!)

You could tell Dan had been there before and had some skeeball practice under his belt. While Caleb was tossing balls up on top the machine or in the gutter, Dan was really racking up the points. He is really impressive for his age - just look at his score!

What Caleb lacks in skill he makes up for in style. Just look at that form. 

One of their favorite activities was this roller coaster simulator. Just look at their faces in these pics. 

They had to wait in line for a long time both times they rode it, but it sure looks like it was worth the wait.

The bowling game even gave us 10 whole frames for just one token! Actually all the games were only one token thankfully.

Caleb impressed me with his basketball skills. Make that's where his niche is?

I think Dave was a little jealous that the mommies got to take the boys on their night out, so maybe next time he and Cliff will have to get their turn. I sure did enjoy my night out with our two special fellas and, of course, Ms. Stacey!