martinzoo

GB got a catapult kit for Christmas. So this morning he brings it out to the family room to start putting it together.

I was worried. We are not the handiest family with tools and things like that. But I was pretty impressed with this kit. Every piece went together the way it was supposed to. And it was easy enough that it didn’t frustrate GB at all.

I believe that GB has OCD tendencies. He must group all the parts together. At least I don’t have to worry about how messy his room gets. He hates a messy room.

This is the base for the catapult.

This is the support system.

…. And the finished product, ready and waiting for launch.

GB’s targets went from the untraditional, Santa, back to the traditional: his medieval battle troops. He had a blast playing with this toy, so I can highly recommend it.

You know how hard it is to get A’s in college, right?

Well, this semester Aquagirl got ALL A’s! So we decided that that needed to be celebrated with the whole Martin clan! We left the dinner venue up to Aquagirl… and really, I was expecting her to choose something more upscale, or whatever…. But she ended up choosing this really cool place about 40 minutes from our home. It’s called the Riverside Diner. And honestly, every time I go there I expect to see Ritchie and Potsie coming out of the men’s bathrooms.

It’s exactly like stepping back into the 50’s. They have Formica tables and counters, swivel bar stools, jukeboxes on every table, and lots of 50’s memorabilia all over the place. They even have the 1950’s Chevy car driving out of the wall (I should have gotten a pic of that). The hostess spot is actually a car from the 50’s too. They have a huge, life-sized Elvis and Marilyn Monroe mannequin to greet you at the door. And the food is delicious! It’s all very cheap, too. Not as cheap as back then, unfortunately, but in between a McDonald’s tab and an Applebee’s tab.

One of the reasons that Aquagirl loves this place is that it’s the only place we know of that serves a ‘chocolate coke.’ Everybody else thought it sounded gross, but she insists that it is awesome!

We were able to bring a bunch of tables together to fit our whole clan. I wish this picture showed more of the atmosphere.

Uncle G is fixated with the tabletop jukeboxes. He kept playing Elvis songs, and ‘Diana.’ My kids go more for the Beach Boys and the Monkeys. The music in the jukeboxes ranged from Frankie Valley all the way to Madonna….LOL!

Anyway, it was a fun night, which we capped off with a trip to the movie theater to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. This was an extremely funny movie, btw, with lots of cute music.

So, congratulations Aquagirl! Keep up the good work.

Every year, the day AFTER Christmas, our whole extended family gets together at Chuck E. Cheese’s. It started with us trying to find a day that we could bring little Aquagirl and little Jabem, who are all biggie-sized now, without the amazing crowds that you usually find there. When we discovered how great it was the day after Christmas, we invited the clan to join us, and it’s been an event every year. I’m sure this must be our 14th or 15th year, since Aquagirl is now 20 yo.

Anyway, the machines are all working and loaded with tickets. The bathroom is freshly scrubbed, which is VERY important for my bil. The employees are always in a chipper mood. And the clientèle is calmer than usual. We are all extremely happy that GB is still young enough to allow us to continue this tradition.

In fact, two of my nephews had trips planned (one to Boston, and the other to NYC) and wouldn’t leave until they had partaken of the CEC adventure that is a Martin tradition.

Here are some funny pics from this year’s outing:

This is the ONLY kind of roller coaster that Aunty B can get excited about….LOL!

This deceptively difficult game was stumping Aunt T. Look at that fierce determination!

GB playing Skeeball. I love this game, but continue to be terrible at it.

I look like I’m karate chopping, but really I’m playing with a bowling simulator. We all really got into it. But my nephew J really ruled!

We always look forward to the day AFTER Christmas. Because it’s just one more way to extend the fun of the season.

Here are some fun little CEC Games, since you didn’t get to join us.

Ok, so here is the whole embarrassing story.
First, I wanted to get a Wii for GB. He has a gamecube, but it broke, and all his games can be played on the Wii.
Plus, I wanted to get one for Jabem, he’s desperately wanted one since they came out a year and half ago.
But I quickly came to realize that I’d be lucky to get one, not two. So, I decided to get one for Jabem, since he’d actually asked for one. And he’s really hard to surprise!
Everyday, the week before last, I stood in line at the crack of dawn waiting for UPS truck deliveries at Walmart. And each day except Tuesday, they had nothing.
On Tuesday, they had three, I was 7th in line. That was the day there was a fight.
This old, cranky lady in a wheel chair was second in line, behind an old cranky man, who brought a chair over from the furniture department (which I thought was pretty smart).
Any way, cranky lady left, determining this to be a “ridiculous waste of time.”
So the line moved up and we were all glad to see her go. Later (two hours) she came back and wanted to get in her old place in line, insisting that the old man corroborate her rights. He wouldn’t and she got really vocal, with cuss words flying. The security guys had to be called and she got in line at about 15 back. Woo! Was she pissed when that truck came in and it only had three Wiis.
The other days, there was nothing on the truck, but the old lady didn’t come back and we turned it into a party every morning. We had coffee and donuts, and the department supervisor turned into our buddy. It was actually kind of fun.
Saturday I didn’t even go out because I had learned the week before that Circuit City, Best Buy, Target and Toys-R-Us all hold their shipments until Sunday when the newspaper circular comes out.
That Sunday, it was freezing, 38 degrees and raining. I could hear the water rushing through the gutters when my alarm went off at 5:45. I was unwilling to get up any earlier than that. I almost didn’t go because of the rain. But as I was lying there, I kept thinking that other people might not go either. So I went.
First store I hit was Circuit City. The Circuit City manager knew they had 40 Wiis, so at 4:00 a.m. with over a hundred people in line, they decided it was cruel to let them sit out there in the rain. So they passed out vouchers and told the people that they could leave and come back sometime before 12:00 noon to buy their Wii.
As much as I wished I had one of those vouchers, I thought it was nice to not keep those people in cold, rainy torment.
Next, I went to Best Buy. They had JUST given out vouchers and there was nobody there, not even a clerk. So I stood there for about 5 minutes, thinking stupidly I was first in line, ha, ha, ha! Some guy came along and told me they had only had 27 and had already given out the vouchers. Wah!
Toys-R-Us did the same thing….. Keep in mind, that all these stores are pretty much in the same vicinity, so I just went from parking lot to parking lot. And as these vouchers are getting passed out, it’s whittling down the competition at the next place, or so I was thinking.
The night before, at dinner, my sil told me she had heard that Target was going to get 85. Well, I figured she must have misheard. None of the stores got that many in….usually. But I thought of that when I drove up to Target and could see a very long line outside. I got out of my car…. didn’t even bring my coffee because I thought there was NO way I’d get one. I got in line with all the other idiotic, fanatical Wii people…. and waited. Five minutes later the Target employee comes out and says they have 72 and he will begin passing out vouchers. I was a tad miffed that he waited another 5 minutes because I could see people butting in line, but I’m not confrontational enough to make a scene.
Anyway, he went down the line, got to me…….. and I was number 69! I was super excited. His timing was actually perfect because at that exact moment, there were only 74 in line, so he only had to disappoint two people. After the vouchers were passed out we had to wait an additional hour for the store to open, but I was so happy, I didn’t care at that point. It was really hard telling all the people who came later that they were all gone, though. They probably had an additional 50-75 people come after me. The lady who was first in line had gotten to Target, and set up camp, at 10:00 p.m. the night before. I’m sure as heck not THAT crazy! I feel like I got really lucky…. But darn it! I was on a mission! And I was gonna fulfill that mission at some point before Christmas. Thank goodness that’s over!

Jabem was VERY happy and really surprised, which is a coup, believe me. And if you know how very technically inept my dh is, you will think that this picture is as funny as I do.