Party with Chuck E.

How much fun did we have at Chuck E. Cheese's? Sydney is already asking if we can go back for her birthday. (Is that a collective groan I just heard from my parents and siblings?)

AJ's favorite game was some sort of combination football/ping pong/basketball game. Pound on the football to launch a ping pong ball through little openings to score points. I think AJ's tongue got the biggest workout of any muscle in his body.

Sydney, meanwhile, was a flurry of motion, running from game to game. She became particularly skilled at finding tickets that previous players had forgotten to pull from the games. I guess that made up for how many tokens she stuffed into rides, only to be disappointed afterward when no tickets resulted. Still, she seemed drawn to rides - the bigger and bouncier the better. At one point I lost sight of her, only to discover her sitting high atop a horse ride. She'd managed to insert her token and climb onto the ride. Talk about self-sufficient!

Some of the bigger kids also found games to play. I'm fairly certain we've cured our friends Gregg and Jeralyn of ever needing to visit this restaurant again.

 Cousin Jessica, despite recent knee surgery, was still able to give Sydney a boost with some of the games.

Here's a rare shot of cousin Zane actually sitting still. Most of the time he was running around. What a good little boy to give his parents so much exercise.

Something we learned the hard way this year: don't wait until the last minute and just show up on a Sunday afternoon with 13 people. Despite their large eating area, all of the tables were reserved for other parties. It's also important to order the cake ahead of time, otherwise be prepared to wait.

Still, when the giant mouse showed up with cake in hand, AJ was pretty excited. And really, that's what matters the most.