Letters to Jack & Audrey: Freeze Out

Jack,

Yesterday we woke up snuggly warm in our beds, but there was a definite chill in the air. It took me a minute or two to realize that it was pitch black. No glow from the Christmas lights on the steps, no red glow from the numbers on the alarm clock - perfectly dark and quiet. Overnight with the winter snow storm, the electric had gone out meaning -yeah, that's right - NO HEAT!

Both your Daddy and I had to go to work and your daycare was open which was good because we didn't have the microwave to make you your breakfast. Daddy was able to get into one of our cars and defrost it over the course of an hour, so we had one car. We all took you to daycare and I went to work a little late.

By the end of the day, it was becoming apparent that we weren't going to be getting our electric back anytime soon. Daddy had a great idea. We got a hotel room in Cape Girardeau (we were planning on driving that way anyway to visit your cousin Amber and to have a celebratory dinner with Kelly and Bobby for finishing their marathon by eating at Lambert's).

We decided to make a celebration out of it so we picked you up from daycare, went home and got packed and headed out to a fun dinner at Chuck E Cheese!

Chuck E. Cheese has changed quite a bit from when we were young. I remember that I used to be SO impressed with the mechanical animals. Now they just have one - Chuck himself.

But I guess the awe that I used to experience in watching the character sing hasn't changed...

After meeting the star of the show himself, there was a TON to do. First, Daddy and you had to be on TV!

Then there were some cool older-kid video games that we HAD to check out!

We finally made our way to the Toddler area where there was plenty to do....

We got to meet Scoop and Bob the Builder!

Peek-a-Boo DADDY!

They had an Indoor Slide!

A very tame Merry Go Round...

...and a toddler virtual roller coaster which you enjoyed SO much that you actually sat through it 2 times!

There was a LOT to see!

They even gave you a party hat and a popsicle big enough for eight children. Needless to say, you were in heaven:

After we were good and stuffed and tired, we jumped in the car and headed to Cape Girardeau. I road in the backseat with you and we watched Toy Story 2 on our way. By the time the movie was over, we were there!

We got to our room and got out toys to play with until bed. You had won this green slimy scorpion toy at Chuck E. Cheese.

As it turns out, you weren't too impressed with it.

Every time you saw the offensive toy

you would fling it as far as you could.

We played until we couldn't keep our eyes open. I think the combination of all the excitement and sugar kept you wide awake until 9:45, but I hardly noticed. What a great night!

This morning was a blast, too! We woke up and went down to a warm breakfast of anything we wanted.

This opportunity to pick your breakfast and have us around in a restaurant setting was too much excitement for you and it was bubbling all over the place and making perfect strangers smile at you and us as you thoroughly enjoyed breakfast!