Nickels

With Grandma & Grandpa Texas at lunch with Grandma & Grandpa Naperville yesterday, we found ourselves with nothing to do on a late-fall Saturday. While I'd normally take this opportunity to go to a museum, I think that's what the rest of the non-shoppers would choose also, so The Dad, The Boy, The Girl, The Tot, and I headed up to Northbrook for our quarterly trip for arcade fun at Nickel City.

It was a slow-moving start in the morning, so we didn't leave until about 11 a.m., which is The Girl's and The Tot's usual lunchtime. Cranky kids + a 25-minute car ride does not for a fun time make. We were all much cheerier after lunch at Panera in Glenview.

We got to Nickel City about 1 p.m. and stayed until just after 2 p.m., playing Skee Ball, Bozo Buckets, Spider Stomp, and various other games. In the free section in the back, I discovered an ancient Japanese game that was a precursor/combination of Bubble Bobble and the iPhone app Bubble Pop and played that for a bit until The Tot and The Dad came to find me. Normally, I get a headache within an hour, but I was actually not ready to leave when The Dad declared that it was time to go. That said, an afternoon at Nickel City is one of my favorite ways to spend $20 and time with my family. We racked up just over 300 tickets between the five of us, enough (with $1.50) for 3 Ring Pops as consolation for having to go home.

The Dad took the kids into Hobby USA adjacent to Nickel City while I ran into Hancock Fabrics (great prices, a massive line for the cutting table and only two people working in the store) for a bodkin. Then we went home - and score! The Tot fell asleep on the way.

Floods

Our block party was canceled because of the rain, so we needed a way to occupy two disappointed kids (and a clueless Tot). Unlike the rest of Chicagoland, who stayed home to bail out basements and watch movies, The Dad and I loaded the kids into the car and headed north to Glenview this afternoon. The purpose of our visit was to shop for new kitchen appliances at Abt Electronics. It took less than 10 minutes. But we spent over an hour wandering around the showrooms and atrium in the store. The Tot loved the atrium's fountain, The Boy and The Girl were entranced by the bell sculpture, The Dad scoped out the Apple store within Abt. Me? I just wanted the freshly baked, free chocolate chip cookies.

Afterwards, we stopped at Pita Inn for kifta plates, falafel, and lamb kebabs. Yum! The parking lot next door was a giant pool of water and some of the roads that we had taken up to Glenview were closed on the way back due flooding. When we got home, Independence Park was a giant mud puddle, so the kids and I played in it for a bit before heading home for a hot bath.