Kid wknd!

So this weekend we did a cousin's sleepover party.   Two adult cousins (myself and T) and three kid cousins ages roughly 10 and 12 (they all have bdays this month so I'm not 100% on who's what age rn!). It was SO much fun.   Those who know me, are aware that I greatly prefer kids in the double-digit phase of life ;).  So this was fairly ideal.   And a super interesting experience.

We started with bowling.  We (adults) offered a choice of bowling or laser tag -- fully expecting we'd be playing laser tag (I'd actually gotten myself pretty excited at the idea).   All three kids, adamantly and with conviction voted for bowling.   Wait what?!?!  Yeah I still don't know - but cool - if that's what they want, that's what we'll do.   And the place we went was kid-friendly for sure which also helped (although for a child-free adult, sensory overload in a BIG way).

Things I learned bowling (I'm keeping it to me, cause I'm not super comfortable writing about other people without their permission):

- not shockingly, as with everything, this is also a brilliance or disaster situation.   I was dead last until the second last frame, and then I won.  Apparently my options are gutter balls or strikes lol.

- I also apparently need at least 8 frames to warm up ;-P

- I literally can't remember the last time I bowled.  Plausibly it's been decades.  And before that not more than a handful of times.  Ironically, C went like a week ago randomly with people from school after a similar time away from the activity.  The timing of that just struck me as odd.

- But I *do* remember, when kids were involved they used to put bumpers in the aisles -- they were like big inflatable bags so the ball almost couldn't miss the pins.   These still exist -- BUT they're a lot more subtle and done electronically.   Which means you also have the choice of having them for kids and not adults, or only one player, or any other combination.   We played the first game without and the second game with  (well, half game - you pay by the hour not the game).   And if *everyone* is playing with, it makes it a different game - a game of angles.  Adds a whole new entertaining dimension.

- The score screens had all kinds of entertaining options; idk if that's cause it's a kid place or if the adult versions do this too now (again, decades....), but if they don't, they 100% should.  Some were trivia, some were critters randomly popping up, some were cartoons being scribbled, etc etc

So after bowling (where we all remembered to change our shoes back.  After a couple tries ;-P), we got some supplies to make pizzas and went to T's home (identified sleepover location, conveniently 15 mins from bowling).  There was a bit of creativity required due to our pizza shells not being as edible as we potentially would've liked, but end result was more than enough pizza, for all five of us AND Sasha :)

Next up - Gingerbread houses!  I'll admit we cheated and bought kits ;).  BUT we got all three houses constructed and the kids decorated in whatever style suited them.  It was highly entertaining and some of the houses got tweaked again the next morning :).  I do NOT remember gingerbread houses taking so long for the icing to solidify sufficiently to provide structure though.  It wasn't even really *that* long - it just felt like it!

Then (are you exhausted yet?!?!  lol) everyone got into PJs and ready for bed -- including rolling out air mattresses and sleeping bags on the floor (kids only on this one - alas, not quite enough room for the adults so we retired to bedrooms ;-P).   BUT it wasn't *actually* bedtime yet (well actually it might've been, but at sleepovers the rules don't apply!).  So we looked for a movie to watch.    They had a few suggestions that, well, I'm not grown-up enough to watch.   lol while I'm all for completely destroying all healthy habits for a night, I'm not at all into giving myself nightmares.   Thankfully T was of a similar mindset and we settled on the more age-appropriate and definitely less terrifying,  Home Alone 2.  lol which somehow I had never seen before.   

After that we chatted for a bit and then kids went to bed.   It was well before midnight, so I deemed that more than reasonable ;)

Next morning we had a lazy start (I mean, earlier than Sash and I would choose normally but lazy...).  I took Sash out for a short walk before her breakfast and came back to hot chocolate; which I'm sure was already potentially breaking healthy rules, so I compounded it by introducing the kids to the concept of dipping chocolate chip cookies into it.  AND they were cookies the kids had made that were SO good.   Then T made the most amazing French Toast.   Idk what she did that's different from every time I've ever made it, but wow.  Along w some cinnamon buns (cause there hadn't been enough sugar yet!) and bacon - of course!   

And just as we were finishing tidying up, kids' parents arrived.  Basically perfect timing.

So yeah - it was a ridiculous amount of stuff in a short time (you're not new here) but it was so much fun.  I'm not convinced the sugar crash that afternoon would've been lol, but from our standpoint it was a blast - that's the fun part when they're not your kids ;-P

Oh - and I might've found a new challenge?   One of the junior cousins had brought some drawings he had done - of Dragons!!!  lol I sincerely doubt he had any idea of my interest in fantasy.  But now I'm wondering if she who hasn't drawn a thing since...   probably single digits myself...  could learn to draw a dragon ;).  hmmmm.   Then didn't help that that same day a friend posted about a painting night she'd done (not dragons, but conceptually...  if adults can be taught to do a full on painting, surely they can learn to sketch a dragon?  hmmmmm *hamster wheel spinning frantically*)

The only sad thing?   I forgot to snag an extra homemade cookie for my commute home.  lol not like cookie day isn't in a couple weeks and I'll be baking more cookies than I know what to do with, but still!  Somehow it's always more decadent when somebody else makes them.