[ stupid elmo! ]

sooooooo... a lovely friend of mine bought the boys passes to sesame place for their birthdays. (it's a sesame street theme park, with lots of water play) i confess i have been i think twice... but yesterday, i thought, what a beautiful day it will be today & asked the boys if they wanted to go! i swear they would have done back flips if they could! they were MEGA MEGA excited!! they call it elmo slides.

so most of yesterday was spent discussing this adventure, what we were going to take with us, what we were going to ride on etc etc & that it was going to be tomorrow... you have to go to sleep all night first & then we'll go!



the first thing that comes out of their mouths this morning was 'we've been asleep can we go to elmo slides now!!'

we packed towels, swimming trunks, sunscreen, hats & 9 million other random objects, items of clothing, most probably a piece of furniture or 2 (well it just felt like that when i lifted this enormous bag!)

oscar didn't complain about having to find his shoes & even put them on his feet without being prompted, they weren't on the right feet... but i appreciated the effort!

i hopped online to check the address & somehow stumbled on the page that said it doesn't open until may!!!!! i thought no this can't be true, it's easter for goodness sake!! so i rang them & they're closed till may...

it's 9 o'clock in the morning, i have 2 hyped up little boys & i am about to burst their bubble. i call them over & break the news... flynn, 2,  took it remarkably well... oscar, 4, started screaming & crying... then flynn says 'can we go to elmo slides now!' it's going to be a loooooooooooong day!

i ask them if they would like to go to the zoo instead... flynn says yes, but oscar isn't having any of it... i rattle off a list of places & the only one that sparked a twinkle in his eye was chuck e cheese... so off we go... it's a GORGEOUS day & we are going to be stuck indoors in an arcade like setting...

i really dislike that place... & here's why...

my friends came to visit me from MA, yes chris & helen that's you! helen had to go into the city & i took chris, his 2 children & my 2 children to chuck e cheese. this was in the days when flynn was still in the stroller that the car seat clicks on. often when i'd lift flynn out the stroller would fall back from the weight of my overloaded bag. i'd been in a hurry that morning & surprise surprise couldn't find my car keys... so i grabbed the spare & off we went.

we'd played & played on everything, had the yukky food & were more than ready to leave... i looked in the cup holder of the stroller for the car key & it wasn't there... chris in the meantime was putting ski suits on his children in anticipation of going out in the cold to the car. i pull my bag apart looking for the key ~ it's NO WHERE!!! i'm going hot & cold all at once. oscar starts crying because he is so tired & over excited... i asked a member of staff if anyone has handed in a key... nothing. i start looking under rides for it, getting carpet burn on my cheek... i am now panicking!! where the hell is it!!! strangers are going through my bag trying to help me...

then a cheerful chuck e cheese lady comes over & says with a beaming smile, i haven't found your key but i have found LOADS of tokens... mmmmmm!! not helping me... i felt like saying 'great!! go have fun on the rides then!!'

i suddenly thought... what if someone took my key... & my car... but it was still there!

chris's children had super rosy cheeks from wearing their outdoor clothes, oscar's crying had got 10 times worse... & flynn was starting up too...

then this really really nice lady, with about 6 children,  took over & said listen i'll give you a ride home & you can get your spare... so that's what happened. arhhhhhhhhh!! what a wonderful person!!

i never found the key, i wonder where it is... a replacement costs $265

& ok ok... elmo's not stupid!!