NOT Playing Hookey

A brand new indoor theme park just opened and had a coupon for $10 all-day passes (but it had to be on a weekday). Thursday was the last day to use the coupon. Since we're not quite decided on where we stand on playing hookey on a regular basis, I took the kids up on Thursday AFTER school. (I still pine for the homeschooling days when we took off to Paris for 3 weeks in October, and the next year to Florida for 2 weeks in February....never being tied down by the district schedule-schmedule.)

Anyway, we had such a blast! The ropes course was the most amazing construction ever! The boy, harnessed in for safety, were free to roam 3 stories high and 50 yards wide of rope bridges and obstacles.

They liked laser-tag (and I remembered that I find it hard to breathe in those dark arenas...and I remembered that I don't like it when people with guns chase me.) We all bowled and played mini-golf, rode the carousel and ferris wheel, climbed the climbing wall and drove the high-speed racecar go-karts.

Zoe (being too short to drive) got a huge kick out of being my passenger in the cars...definitely the only time I bump other cars and curbs in an effort to pass every other driver before the time runs out!

Xander also chose the cars as his top favorite attraction. On his first run, he was hit while turning a corner and his car spun around (causing the whole track to shut down while they aligned him). A few moments later, he was hit again on a curve! (This time the offender was yours truly! oops! I was only trying to pass, I swear!) He spun out again and the ride shut down again. I must say he wins the "most improved driver" award, because the next time he drove, he had no spin-outs AND kept the lead for the whole race! He took the corners at high speed with indifference. I must have improved, too, because I didn't cause anyone else to spin-out.

Guy chose laser-tag as his favorite activity. I went in with him the first time and attempted to pull him out of laser-danger whenever possible and show him the neat trick of "keeping your body safe while sticking your arm out to shoot". He had even more fun on his second run, and got a higher score. The equipment was amazing...

I remember when I played my first ever laser-tag back in the 80's at the 49th Street Galleria with Granny Lorraine, Todd, Curt and Dacy. We had huge plastic boxes with a target on the front and funny big guns that seemed not to work reliably. When Guy played his first game he had a lightweight, super-thin vest with 8 illuminated targets that could flash different colors. The gun had a readout for him, and the vest vibrated when he was hit. Maybe best of all was the electronic voice, chattering into his ear "nice shot" whenever he'd score! The uplifting voice did NOT say "You got hit again, you big wimp!" when he got hit...no wonder Guy loved the game.

Although no one claims it as the favorite, the most laughs were had in the climbing structure. They chased each other around and around, up, down, sliding, climbing and screaming. This attraction is the free one. Go figure.

So, having all this fun took us until about 11:30 PM on a school night. I drove us home and the kids rolled into bed (I'm sure it was before 1:00 AM). I decided that since I successfully refrained from playing hookey on Thursday, a good compromise would be to show up an hour late for school on Friday.

I dunno, though... I've got more really good ideas for fun things to do...on weekdays...