It was in a bowling alley, the type that gives tokens and tickets and nothing prizes but drives kids crazy with excitement. When we left, Emily and I looked at each other with relief and made a note NOT to do that kind of thing again. There were probably six birthday parties going on at one time, and it was just filled with running children, harried parents, pizza, popcorn, lemonade, flashing lights - and a little bowling.
Graysen and Everly sharing the controls of some space ship game to make the most of their tokens.
Harper looks very Space Wars with her gun and the eerie lighting.
Katherine didn't bowl but did enjoy seeing the space game nearby. She was content a while just looking around but then got hungry, and when someone brought a huge bin of popcorn over, she took it upon herself to eat half of it, I think. For me, I just enjoyed being with her and listening to her opinion of it all.
I really didn't get any more good pictures. This was when they were actually bowling, before Katherine came to sit with me. I'm not sure what is happening here, but Graysen is sporting her new overalls, which she loves. She explained to me that they were called overalls because you could wear them over things. Makes sense.
Graysen actually won the bowling competition and got an extra bag of tokens. She got a strike and two spares, and now Emily is worried that Ryan is going to start taking her to bowling alleys - with arcades!
It was new clothes day since Emily figured they wouldn't enjoy opening those on Christmas morning. Nothing could please Katherine more than a jumper with kitty pockets.
AND kitty shoes.
It was nice to meet new people. There were just five little girls and their parents, and it was good for Emily to have a chance when she's not in a hurry to talk with other parents.
I'm not a good passenger normally, and yesterday two days after an accident, I was really not good company. Emily put me kind of in charge of navigation which distracted me a LITTLE bit. I knew where we were for the first 10 minutes or so until we got on our second interstate. I've never been to that area before, but it was kind of nice to see a new town or two.
On the way home, we stopped in Bellevue - Or Issaquah - not sure - where Ryan's company was having their Christmas party. No pictures, but someone was taking a lot. I don't know if I'll see them. Graysen didn't want to get out of the car because last year she saw Santa Claus through the window and ran screaming back to the car. This year, she allowed herself to be in the same room with him, but she kept her eyes flickering in his direction at all times, and sometimes I noticed her standing directly behind me to block his view.
They had a hot chocolate bar that the girls zeroed in on. I had a cup too, and it was excellent with all kinds of things you could add in. If that wasn't enough sugar, there were other marshmallow and candy things on sticks that they munched on. Katherine did allow herself to sit - with her parents nearby - in Santa's lap but with the most forced and unhappy smile I've ever seen from her. Graysen was not impressed enough to do it herself. We saw a family with 3 crying kids get their picture taken with trickery. Santa went out of the room, and the children saw it. Then the whole family sat down to pose for the picture. Then when they were ready, Santa sneaked back out and stood behind them. That would have freaked Graysen out even more when she saw the picture if they had done that.
We were definitely ready to get home when we finally got to leave. It was a fun day though, and I'm glad I made the effort to do it.
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