Chuck E. Please, Never Again!

Mitchell is 3 1/2, and I often brag that he's never been to Chuck E. Cheese or McDonald's. I find both to be really gross, so I've not taken him to either ... until yesterday.

We were invited to our friend Sarah's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I was dreading it from the time I opened the invitation.

I've been to CEC twice as an adult, and I remember thinking how dirty and greasy it was. Yesterday proved to be no exception - only this time, it was my child running around and playing the dirty games and eating the greasy pizza.

Of course, Mitchell didn't see the dirt. He saw video games. REAL video games - not the kind he makes up when playing with Noah. He saw the chance to run amok and be a crazy kid and eat pizza and watch a weird robot mouse dance (he pointed this out - that it was a weird robot mouse and not at all real).

We loved celebrating Sarah's birthday and eating the gorgeous Barbie princess cake, but it will probably be a very long time before we venture back to CEC.

On the way home, Mitchell asked if he could have his birthday there. Paul told him it's only open for girls' birthday parties and that it's not open in the winter. Either it's OK to tell a little white lie to avoid paid chaos or we're going to Hell for filling our child's head with ill conceived notions that he can't have a party at Chuck E. Cheese. Either way, we're not going back there again any time soon (until the next girls' party invite arrives, anyway!).