Considering the (mis)adventures we’ve had this past week, I was a little worried when we decided to go to Putt Putt yesterday afternoon. I was imagining mini-golf balls bouncing off of people’s eyes, or a child falling and breaking an arm, or perhaps one of the little people falling into the water hazards. You know – any of our usual mayhem and chaos.
Instead, it was a very lovely afternoon. Because it was the middle of a Monday afternoon, we pretty much had the run of the place. For $20, we had unlimited miniature golf, a hot dog and soda, and 40 tokens. Turns out, 18 holes is just a few too many for the little ones to stay focused, but they were a riot pretty much through the entire course. For starters, Gracie kept calling it “hockey.” And let me tell ya – she wielded that hockey stick golf club like she meant it. We kept yelling at Bee to stay “Off the greens!” more for her safety than from any obstacle she might present. After a few tries, Gracie pretty much had the mechanics of her swing down, but her strategy and accuracy were about on par for a five-year-old. It was hilarious watching her “guide” the ball a bit with her club, or else move the ball to a much more desirable location…like right next to the hole. After a few tries with Auntie Kim proving assistance with her swing, Bee pretty much gave up and we started scoring her on how many tries it took for her to throw her ball into the hole. I have to say: I never knew golf balls had so much bounce in them.
After miniature golf, we spent about an hour running around the arcade and spending our tokens. I was disappointed in the selection of games – they really didn’t offer any games for the really young crowd. There was skee ball, which I helped Bee play a time or six. After she nearly took out a couple of patrons and hit a fuzzy monster on a game right next to us, I tried to steer her towards other amusements, though. There were a lot of games of chance (see how many tokens you can win! Pull the wheel to win a million tickets! Play Wheel of Fortune for tickets!), which really didn’t teach them anything or take very long to play, but they spit out tickets, so the girls enjoyed them. Bee kinda scared me with the color roulette wheel. She picked the long shot colors almost every time and kept winning. Mama might have to set up a real roulette wheel to practice on and then we’re headed to Vegas, baby.
We topped off our afternoon by trading in our hot dog and drink coupons for two giant red slushees instead. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen my girls around slushees (or Auntie Kim, for that matter), but that was the moment where I most feared for my life. I thought Gracie was going to bite my finger off for trying to share her slushee (yes, she was made to share) and both girls were frightening with the way they wielded those extra long straws with the scooper spoon thing attached to the end. I thought for sure one of us was going to end up with one accidentally stuffed up our nose. Thankfully, that didn’t happen, but Auntie Kim did say something funny at one point that made slushee (almost) come out my nose. And then, once that awful sensation passed, I had to explain to Gracie what I meant and why she couldn’t see it. Height of hilarity, we are.
So that was our very lovely, disaster-free (finally!) afternoon! To celebrate, I made the girls go to school and I am actually putting in a full day of work. Auntie Kim, I imagine, will be sleeping it off at home. What can I say? It is hard being us.
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