duck, duck, goose

We went to a new park in town today, one with lots of water features and fountains and birds. This was clearly the best part of the day, it was tough to keep an eye on all the girls because one or more kept trying for a mad dash to the various mostly unfenced, torrential, mile deep, 4+ rapids of death man-made ponds. Hey, the kids can't swim, so niagra falls or duck ponds, it's all the same at this point.

On the way to the car, buddy Gavin stopped with us to feed the ducks and geese, which is against the posted park rules, and therefore, automatically, lots of fun.

Last night John's cousin invited us to Chuck E Cheese, right near our house. Monday night is as perfect a time to go there as it gets. One could argue that a better time to go is when it's closed. "Oh, darnit kids, looks like it's all dark inside. And look at that sign, it says it's closed permanently because kids have been screaming too much, and all of the employees went deaf. See kids, it's a public health concern."

It was relatively quiet ("quiet" in Chuck E Cheese world, this differs tremendously from "quiet" in most other settings) and un-busy, and somewhat easy to actually find your own kids among all the craziness, most of the time.

On the right is Brayden with Kate on the merry-go-round:

Here's Erin and Jake, holding the water hoses and teaming up to put out a house fire in a fireman video game. I didn't see the beginning of the game and how the house caught on fire...I wonder if it's kids playing with matches and lighter fluid and igniting the couch or the drapery.