Peter Piper

The summer is drawing to a close. Well, not really, but school will be starting very soon. So, I decided to take the kids to Peter Piper Pizza. I thought this would be a good idea. Somewhere inside where the kids could eat, run and play. Better than the movies because they could be loud and different from the pool which we frequent almost daily. They also offer a lunch buffet. Even better. Off we go into Tucson with our neighbors. We were all excited to see what it was about. When we arrived at our destination we all piled out of the car. The children squealed with delight at the sight of a huge merry-go-round visible through the glass store front. I, on the other hand, first noticed the cafeteria style tables filled with more adults than children. Weird?

As we entered the restaurant it was helter skelter. The kids wanted to play the games immediately. The lights and sounds from the play area teasing them instantly. What hit me was the sight of the games that must have been around since I was a kid. Hmmm, interesting. I informed them that we would eat first. OK. We get the plates and filled them with pizza and then take a spot at one of the worn tables inches away from what appeared to be a man on his lunch hour. (I guess he couldn't resist the greasy pizza at all you can eat prices.) The kids scarf down one piece while turned around looking at all the games. The merry-go-round wasn't running and if Mae asked me one more time if she could ride it now, I thought I was going to scream. Finally, as fate would have it, just as the kids took their last and final bite of their single piece of pizza a girl started running the ride. They were thrilled. Then we made it over to the games. I couldn't believe some of them were still actually working. I think they each played every game 5 times. Will was content just pushing the buttons. The great thing about this was that a few games gave out a huge amount of tickets. The kids kept handing me the tickets which I would stuff in my diaper bag. We played about thirty minutes to an hour and then decided to "cash in". For those of you unfamiliar with these types of places you take your tickets to the counter and trade them for prizes. It's so ridiculous. They have these two cent toys that are worth like 25 tickets. They also have the teaser prizes. These much coveted items are something like a huge stuffed animal or an expensive action figure. Peter Piper had a Hannah Montana bedside lamp. (FANCY) Of course they are worth something like 6000 tickets. Something you could never achieve. And of course that's the exact item Mae wanted.(Hannah would look great beside her antique bed) We pooled all of our tickets and had an unbelievable amount. The kids had 275 each. Oh what to get. They each got about three things--all junk-- that they loved.

Isn't it funny how something that seems not so fun to an adult can be great for kids. They didn't notice how "old" or "yucky" the place was. They just saw endless fun and found it in the raggedy games and greasy pizza. We all should take this sort of attitude when faced with situations we find "not so grand". Who knows. You just might end up with a Hannah Montana Lamp!