Puppies and Pinball

Well, no actual pinball - but Skee Ball, and video games!

Today we went to Dave & Buster's at the Plymouth Meeting Mall to meet Mike for lunch and play some games.

You are probably familiar with D&Bs, but the PM location is slightly smaller and more kid-friendly than the larger clubs I have been to in Philly and Chicago.

They have a good meal-deal, you can pick one of a selected group of meals and add on a $10 or $20 "play card" for the arcade. Mike had a double-cheeseburger (with very excellent fries) and got the $20 card for a total of $23.99. Not bad.

All told, I think we probably went through $40 in credits in the arcade (including some spent by Mike topping his personal best in Galaga) and ended up with about 300 prize tickets per child.

This, of course, resulted in the traditionally painful "cashing in of the tickets". Let me tell you, 300 tickets essentially gets NOTHING but some candy. And yet, my generally intelligent children felt the need to bring me every single item in the shop to see if they could afford it.

Can I get this huge stuffed animal?

Um, no...just candy.

Can I get this cheap radio?

Nope, candy.

How about this shirt?

Candy.

How about...?

CANDY...ONLY CANDY!!!

It is not in my nature to encourage the aquisition of candy, but about 15 minutes in I was picking candy up and shoving it into their hands. Please...Just. Take. The. Candy.

We left D&Bs and made our way to the other end of the mall to ride on the double-decker carousel. On our way we saw the Easter Bunny going up one of the escalators - which was sort of surreal.

Tater has been anticipating the carousel for many months, ever since he expressed a desire to return to Italy (we went on vacation a couple of summers ago) so that he could ride the double-decker carousel. When I told him there was one, not only in America, but within driving distance of home, he was ready to GO!!

He enjoyed it, riding on a horse on the top, as did I. Sprout, ever the rebel, sat on a bench. Woo Hoo!

Post carousel, we visited the Dairy Queen for some treats. Gotta love DQ.

So, to get to the point here - the Plymouth Meeting Mall has turned into the boardwalk, but less sandy. Very fun. And we didn't set foot in a single store!

There is also a place called Krazy City, which looked like a knock-off of D&Bs, right next to the carousel. It isn't open yet (according to their website), but looks like it could be fun.

We left the mall around 2:30 and had to make a trip over to the Frazer Zoo to visit the puppies. Tater and I went there on Tuesday and met the sweetest little pug/shih-tzu mix puppy and Sprout was quite desperate to check it out.

If you are unfamiliar with the "Zoo" it is a pet shop on Rt 30 in Frazer, right near the DMV. They have a selection of puppies and bunnies and a huge assortment of fish and lizards and things.

It isn't the classiest place, but the kids LOVE to go there to see the puppies.

I know we aren't supposed to encourage the puppy trade, but they are so sweet and love to have visitors (if the tail wagging is any indication).

We have to go in there with pinky-swears and promises that everyone is aware that we are not leaving with any pets. Otherwise things just get ugly.

So, we are keeping busy as Spring Break starts to wind down. We have tickets to the Hannah Montana movie for tomorrow and plans for our annual Easter Egg Eggstravaganza with our friends. Egg Hunt Saturday, another one Sunday.

It was a good week. I think we might survive the summer!