Archive for October 3rd, 2009
It’s rare, really rare, that we keep Ava up past her bedtime of 8PM. It doesn’t work well for any of us so we avoid doing it if at all possible. Seriously, I could probably count on two hands (maybe add in a foot) how many times she’s seen 9PM in the last 22 months.
So we planned. She not only did she sleep in but she also got a longer than average nap in preparation for our evening at Howl-O-Scream. We’d made plans to meet up with our goddaughter and her parents to wander around the park after the ghouls and goblins came out.
The downside was that we were there on a Saturday. Bad move. It was beyond packed which was quite a surprise to me after the very light crowds the weekend prior. And since my tolerance for lots ‘o people in one place is low it didn’t take me long to look for some alternatives to wandering around sheep-like following the flow of the crowd.
So while J and Ava were watching (well, listening to, since they couldn’t see over everyone’s heads) the ‘Jack is Back’ street show…
I snuck away and surreptitiously purchased tickets for the three of us to have dinner with Elmo and 75 or so of his closest friends. Except that Howl-o-Scream on a Saturday night isn’t exactly the target audience for dinner with Elmo so it ended up with maybe 4o people (including us) instead.
Ava loved it. Mostly. She loved the show. She loved the food. She loved seeing the characters walking through the audience. She did not love the characters when they tried to interact with her.
This was the face we got as soon as they got within five feet of her:
Within 3 feet and they got a dose of her own interpretation of Howl-and-Screaming.
Being that there were plenty of characters and relatively few kids clamoring for their attention, Grover decided to take it upon himself to try and coax Ava to interact with him. He pulled up a chair, sat down, and proceeded to play peek-a-boo, blow kisses, and just generally flirt with her. I’m proud to say my girl gave him the stink eye the whole time and never wavered in her resolve to keep them all away solely by the force of her glare.
Although Ava loved it, we, the parents, merely tolerated it. The musical numbers were cute-ish (something about the Count not having many friends to celebrate Halloween with or something – I just know he counted A LOT – and Oscar threw trash out of his can throughout the whole show which amused J and I way more than the incessant counting) but the food was hideous. $20 bucks each (adults) for us to indulge in the all you can eat gourmet buffet featuring chicken tenders, pizza rolls, hot dogs, and mac-n-cheese. Ugh. The only bright spot was dessert with Elmo and Grover cupcakes and plenty of chocolate chip cookies as big as your head.
By the time the dinner and show were over the ghosties were out in full force and Ava loved it. The darker lighting, the people jumping out to say boo, the ghoulish music – none of it phased her a bit. All she knew was that she wanted to ride the carousel so we (she and I) waited in line for ages (not really – maybe 2 rides) only to be told she couldn’t ride because she didn’t have shoes on. Now, mind you, her feet hadn’t touched the ground in ages since I was carrying her and they weren’t going to since I was carrying her onto the ride to put her up on the horse and stand with her. So I ended up arguing my way on – finally saving the day by telling the ride attendant that she could be the one to tell my 2 year old that she couldn’t ride the pink horse after all. (Trust me, I’m not arguing the need for rules and safety, but give me a break here.)
We finally met up with our friends in time for another showing of Frankenrock. It was so cool to see Ava running and playing with some other kids before the show started. They were chasing lights and shadows on the floor and she was having a blast hanging with the ‘big’ kids. Once the lights went down it was another story – Frankenstein came over our way and touched her on the chin – which nearly sent her into orbit. Poor little mite was scared to death and let everyone know it. Frankenstein mouthed us an apology and headed up on stage to sing, by which time Ava had completely recovered and was sharing snacks with Izzybelle on the floor in front of us.
A few nighttime rides later – those freakin’ flying machines AGAIN and a final twirl on the teacups where she told us in no uncertain terms that she needed to potty NOW which caused J to take off at quite a clip for the nearest restroom the very second the ride ended – and we were on our way home at 915PM. She was asleep in the car before we’d even made it out of the parking lot and went right to bed the minute we got home with nary a peep.
Sorry for the bad photo quality. I left the good camera at home, figuring I had my little purse camera if I really needed it. Except I forgot to check to make sure the memory card was in it – which it wasn’t – so these are all iPhone pictures. Will do in a pinch but it’s not the best capturing the moving target that is my kid.