Pit of Despair

Sunday was Keola's 2nd Birthday. I found some adorable Diego animals and the plan was to make some cupcakes and throw the animals on top and maybe a personal size cake with Diego on it for the birthday boy. Well during the design process- the cupcakes got scratched because- wouldn't a whole safari/jungle scene be really cool. Hmm, Diego is Antarctica Diego- so I'll have to add a snow scene- easy enough- white frosting. We had a work-BBQ at noon on the other side of the island, so I had to get up early so I had enough time to finish the cake. The girls helped, by playing with the frosting and we were on schedule.

We finish the BBQ, I run home with Bella and Lily to get the cake- hoping that in an hour car ride- both would have a good nap and - no such luck. Where are The other 3 members of the family- well they were drawn into a plot involving boat rides and sand bars, and they promise to meet us at the party. I cannot be late though as I have the cake. Well, I guess they might nap in the 20 minutes to Chuck E cheese- yep that's right my absolute FAVORITE party place(insert sarcastic tone). No such luck- Bell conked out as we pull into the parking lot and Lily was still yammering about singing Happy Birthday. Bella wakes up enough to dive into the ball pit. The pit of despair. Ick. It's the equivalent of a baby pool without the chlorine. I try to get her to ride the rides which works, for awhile. But she is always drawn to the ball pit. I know what lurks there...and it involves days of sanitizing and laundry and whimpering. Finally she realizes that the carousel is waaay more fun than the pit and rides it about 10 times. I'm starting to feel queasy watchin her go round- although it is going slow enough that 3 and 4 year olds can hop on and off at random. She gets down and is very clingy, I assume she's hit the wall. Exhaustion meets overstimulation and all faculties just shut down. She will not let me put her down. She's got to be dizzy. She finally lays down on the booth by the table. I hear it- the "mama" followed by the cough and the splashing sound. This is a new record for us. We didn't even make it out of Chuck E Cheese's before there was puking. Outstanding. It's funny when you are dealing with trained professionals how quickly everything goes into action. I grab the pukey child and relocate, Carrie- a clean freak and nurse already has most of the mess on the booth contained- she is issuing orders to the other children- get a worker, bring sanitizer, Jen needs wipes. By the time a worker shows up with 1 rag and a bottle of lysol we have everything cleaned except the carpet under the table. The worker looks at Carrie, says- oh that's not bad, if you don't mind I'll just clean it up LATER. I'm too busy making sure Bella is not gearing up for round 2 to be confrontational about complete idiocy. Carrie on the other hand is not- She grabs the Lysol- yes we DO mind-go away- and has the mess completely sanitized before the worker even realizes what has happened. And that is why I LOVE Carrie. I am packing up and Lily is whimpering that we can't go, she didn't sing Happy Birthday yet. Carrie says they'll bring her home so go on home. I mean really- an hour and a half is really not enough time to marinate in the filth of Chuck E Cheese. How could I deprive her of the opportunity of contracting some other virus that might result in say a rash or some fun form of gastroenteritis? At least she'll get to sing Happy Birthday.