Bart's Party

For Bart's birthday party this year, we decided to go bowling. I think at some point in the past bowling used to be a cheap family activity. We thought we would save money by not doing a birthday package, but just reserving two lanes for fifteen people to bowl one game - with eight kids bowling, we would definitely not have time for a second game. Well, a hundred and twenty bucks later...
Honestly, why does everything cost a small fortune? And everyone has to do and have everything. We actually try really hard not to spoil our kids. We try to choose a few things that they are interested in to buy them. Right now, Bart is into Star Wars, Drake is into Dora and Thomas, and Skylar (as always) is an avid reader and loves dance.
Several of Skylar's little friends have cell phones. Most of her and Bart's friends have Nintendo DS's of their own. Most have TV's in their rooms or computers in their rooms. George and I will not let them have TV's or computers in their rooms because then they would never want to come out! We only have one TV in our house and it's in the family room. We have one family computer and then this one that I just got. We have a Wii for the family and George has a Sony PSP which he allows the children to play often enough.
I'm sorry, but kids Skylar and Bart's ages just aren't responsible enough for expensive electronics. Case in point: Skylar got a really nice, slightly costly MP3 player for Christmas last year. She really enjoyed it and George helped her put songs on it. But she lost it a few weeks ago. She thinks she lost it in our house somewhere, but we cannot find it anywhere. Needless to say, we are NOT buying her another one anytime soon. Needless to say we are NOT buying her a cell phone anytime soon.
Ridiculous. What can a ten year old possibly have to say to her friends that can't be said on the family phone?
I want to know what is happening to family time?
When a kid has a TV in his room, a computer in his room, a cell phone of his own, a handheld video game device, and an iPod or the like, why on earth would he even come out of his room and interact with his parents, who are probably just going to hassle him about cleaning his room or helping set the table?
All right then...Sorry I got off on a rant there...
Back to Bart's party.
So, we invited two of our best friends and their kids bowling, Mack and his family, and Tom and Renee. Bart basically had three good friends there and then siblings, friends' siblings, and the adults. We ended up going to a huge bowling alley/mini-golf/go-kart place near the beach in Cape Carteret. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there, but the bowling alley here in New Bern wouldn't let us reserve lanes unless we were buying a birthday package. We bowled (it lasted forever!) and then crowded around a table at the snack bar to eat cake and open presents.
I had made Bart an R2D2 cake. It turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I was sorry to eat it. It didn't take terribly long to make, but it was a good deal of work. It was worth it to see Bart excited about it, though. I think he enjoyed his party. He got some nice presents - not too many, thank goodness.
After bowling, we went with Mindy and Kevin and to McDonalds for a bite to eat. It was the worst MickeyD's experience we've had in awhile. The McDonalds here in New Bern are actually quite good. The employees are really friendly and polite. Actually, we also have a decent Wal-Mart. Granted, a trip to any Wal-Mart is basically a trip to hell, but at least this is a trip to the third level of hell rather than say, the ninth or tenth level.
Lucy screamed pretty much the whole way home, but we figured she had a right since we subjected her to the bowling alley and McDonalds with only one feeding. We gave her a bath when we got home and she settled down pretty well.
George and I ended the night by watching Saturday Night Live together. The fake McGyver commercials for Pepsi were hilarious. Now I'm up way too late again, but I know I'll just forget to write if I wait until tomorrow.