pizza, rollerskating, bowling and cheesecake….
When Ryan went to the Priesthood session of General Conference, I decided to take all the kids and just to get out of the house.
Our first stop was for dinner at Tom’s House of Pizza. I had been here a long time ago, when I was single. I remember not liking it and vowing never to go back, but I thought that I’d give it a try again.
After parking and giving a verbal warning to all my kids to behave and them echoing reassurances that they would behave we went in. Any time I go anywhere with all my kids people just stare. I guess cuz they are so many, cuz they make a bit of noise and people always wonder if they are all mine. I always get asked that question when I go out. When I tell them that they are, I get the next question. How old are they? When I tell them the ages, 2, 4,5,7 and 10. Their eyes grow big and they always say, “Wow! You’re brave!”
Ya, ya. I just smile and say, “No, I’m crazy! I’m the little old lady who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn’t know what to do!”
That usually gets a chuckle out of them and then people always mention that I look great for having 5 kids. I smile and thank them for the compliment, then I can get on with my day. They will watch me and give me sympathetic glances or smiles when they get out of control.
This restaurant is a self serve restaurant. So you order your pizza, 1/2 pepperoni, 1/2 Hawaiian, then get your plates, utensils, napkins and set your own table. Then they bring your pizza to your table. Gee…. almost like home, but at least I don’t have to cook.
Thankfully there was a huge fish tank that went up to the ceiling that we sat by so the kids were distracted by the fish swimming for a good solid 3 minutes. Which was enough time to set the table and order the pizza. After that they ran to the juke box and we picked out songs to listen to while we waited. Then we had to take about 2 trips to the bathroom.
The bathroom was down this long hallway, which was a great race track for them, so they ran up and down squealing and shrieking until I dashed out and dragged them back to the table.
After another verbal warning they settled down to color on their coloring pages. Luke felt that in order for his wax crayons to work he needed to dip them in chocolate milk first. Soon after that he decided to just dunk a few crayons in his milk to give his milk that yummy crayon taste. Thank goodness they are non toxic. So after digging them out of Luke’s glass about 4 times, I also had to keep Brandon from snapping his crayons in half, pay attention to Mya showing me all her drawings, spell out words to Josh for the crossword puzzle and try to correctly answer the questions that were on Laura’s sheet….. All the while, I’m trying to eat my Caesar salad.
Thankfully the pizza came as their cries for, “Where’s the pizza?” began to irritate me. They quietly settled down and gobbled up the pizza. It was surprisingly good! I loved it!
I have learned to eat quickly while at a restaurant cuz the kids eat quickly then get get wiggly again. So I quickly downed 2 slices and I was full. It was so yummy! I loved the thin crust and the seasoning they put on it. Once they were finished then it was bathroom time again. Luke took off, but thankfully a customer caught him for me. I answer the same 4 questions and then can go catch the other 3 to stop them from running up and down the bathroom hallway.
I quickly usher everyone out to the vehicle. Next stop. The rollerskating rink. I really didn’t think this would be so bad taking all 5 kids to by myself. Obviously, I must think I’m superwoman or something.
I give Laura and Josh a coupon, some money and send them in to pay while I gather everything I need for Luke and find my bank card out of my purse. Luke sees an open door and dashes out squealing down the sidewalk. Brandon dashes after him and Mya runs after Brandon. They grab Luke and there’s screaming and crying and shrieking. *sigh*
We enter into the rollerskating building and I try to pay for the kids and myself. Luke is trying to dash through the doors. I’m trying to hold on to his shirt and he is pulling away from me, Brandon and Mya are play fighting beside me, bumping into me while I’m trying to punch in all the stuff into the debit machine.
I finally, put Luke in a football hold under my arm, tell the other 2 to knock it off and I finish the transaction.
We enter into the darkened rink area. The strobe lights are going, the disco ball is turning and colored lights flash on the the rink floor. Music is pounding and very loud. There are quite a few people here tonite and a bunch of them are dressed in 60’s and 70’s clothes, with the wigs, headbands and big glasses. It was hilarious!
Laura and Josh have gotten their Rollerblades and are sitting down to put them on.
I hold tightly to Luke’s hand as he is trying in vain to wriggle free from my grip. He plays the limp, dead trick so I just keep dragging him along the floor until I reach the skate rental area.
Rollerskates or Rollerblades? Hmm…
I grab rollerskates for Mya, Brandon and Luke. For myself I get Rollerblades. I do know how, I just haven’t done it in a few years. How hard can it be? Just like riding a bike right?
I help the kids get their stuff on then put on the rollerblades. I take Brandon out first. We skate out into the middle of the rink out of everyone’s way. It was slow and hard to balance myself, plus try to keep up Brandon who is a solid kid. He is the most like Ryan and Brandon is built like a football player. He’s heavy. After a few rounds, I go back and try out roller skates. I lace them up and take out Mya. I can barely go around in roller skates and I’m having even more trouble keeping Mya up. So I go back and switch back to rollerblades. I like these way better. I take Luke out for a few laps. It was very tiring and stressful trying to give each one a turn and to keep up with all 5. Josh hung out around the games area and Laura tried to help me take the little ones out on the floor.
I don’t think I would go back here until the kids are all a little bit older. I had a lady sympathizing with me.
“You are so brave to take all 5 kids out! Are they all yours?” She inquired.
I give her my typical response and try to help Mya stay off the floor. She then helps me the entire night to keep the other little kids occupied while I’m on the floor with one of the kids.
I would love to go back here with friends. It would be fun. I got to go around the rink two times by myself, but then had to go back because Luke was in tears that I was away from him.
The kids were cranky and whining and my tolerance level was lowering so I decided to switch gears and go bowling.
They have tonnes of energy so they were thrilled by the idea. It was 9:30pm. I called Ryan to see if he was done and to get him to meet me at the bowling alley.
We went to Chinook and I booked bowling for 30 min. The kids can only last for that long. It was glow in the dark bowling.
We all took turns and I helped Luke. Luke loved the idea of trying to follow the ball down the bowling lane. He kept trying to squirm out of my lap or away from my grip so he could chase the ball. Josh and Brandon did very well at bowling. Brandon ended up getting first. This of course wasn’t without tears. Josh was mad he didn’t get first, Mya got her fingers pinched when the balls came back up into the holder and Brandon was sulking because Ryan didn’t snuggle him enough. Laura, my sweet angel, was the only one that was calm and just simply enjoyed going out.
After we went for dessert at the Cheesecake cafe. It was 11:00pm. I was tired, the kids were still wired. They were tired, just fighting the sleep. We had cheesecake, the kids had some chicken fingers and fries. This however was not a good decision because the kids were in melt down mode. They were way too tired. Luke kept trying to climb up the seats to play with the blinds on the window. Mya and Brandon were fighting and Laura and Josh were fighting.
I just looked at Ryan and said, “What was I thinking?”
Ryan just shrugs. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty tired too.”
We decided to head for home. The chaos was getting to be a little much for me and my patience was wearing out.
We did have fun, it is just very exhausting hauling all 5 out.