Chunky Cheese

Today we celebrated a friend's 6th birthday at the local Chuck E Cheese.  The place was a zoo with 3 simultaneous birthday parties but we still had a good time. 

Lucy got a cup of tokens to spend, and tried a few games:

The Bob the Builder ride in the toddler area that she was a bit too big for:

And her #1 favorite attraction...the bicycle ride!  When you get on it and start to pedal, the ride moves you up towards the ceiling (it looked very Willy Wonka-esque):

And with her friend Halle:

Colin had a Spiderman themed party:

It was an awesome time! 





And I forgot to mention that we had our first time shelling black-eyed peas together from the garden this morning.  It is an old tradition that I did with my Grossmama in the heat of the summer. 

I remember the sound of the peas hitting the tin pie pan and listening to AM radio, and how they would move the window AC units around for the week that we visited so that we (kids) could be more comfortable.  It brings back memories of chasing the feral barn cats and grinding wheat berries into flour...scrubbing cucumbers for pickles and shucking corn...peeling potatoes for dinner and playing for endless hot hours with endless cousins...the memories go on! 

I wish I could say that the black-eyed peas turned out well, but they ended up getting burnt while I was upstairs sorting laundry.  Such is life!