Happy Sunday!
Yesterday was an eventful vacation day! At the ocean, Emily caught a decent sized FLOUNDER with her BARE HANDS! Then, we saw a LARGE fish in the break… something like 5 feet long and dark, never saw a fin, but it did drive us out of the water pretty fast!
Last night, we went to the arcade at the old Buxton Drive in (don’t know the new name)… played a dinosaur claw game where you can claw little dinosaurs and win them! Well, you know my family… they were ALL OVER THIS MACHINE!
All of us were taking turns at winning these little plastic dinosaurs… a game clearly intended for kids 6 and under! I became Emily’s hero when I won the GIGANTIC Tyrannosaurus Rex! (photo)
The funniest moment came when Coree won the DINOSAUR HE ALWAYS WANTED… and he was all smiley faced… until he went to RELEASE the prize… and IT WAS STUCK IN THE CLAW!
The machine is NOISY… it has dinosaur background music… and the claw lever opens and closes aggressively! The whole arcade knew we were there!
After Coree’s dinosaur got stuck, we all took turns at trying to shake it loose. It cost us $.50 for each try… 50 cents of HILARIOUS vacation entertainment! Finally it was my turn. Coree (my 18 year old son) gave me that look like, “Please DADDY, set my dinosaur FREE!”
So I dropped in my 2 quarters… waited for the right moment, hit the button to lower the claw, and shook the claw until it seemed like I had broken Coree’s dinosaur loose AND captured ANOTHER one! The seconds ran out and the claw rose most triumphantly, up into the air… YES… there were two prizes heading for the exit drop… I was SO PROUD!
Down on my knees, face lit up, working my dinosaur claw magic… all the CHEERING… it was the proudest moment of my life! lol The time had come… so I maneuvered the lever to release the dinosaurs just like I was supposed to… AND… ONLY ONE PRIZE DROPPED… the one Coree wanted was STILL STUCK in the claw! (photo)
What happened next… you HAD TO BE THERE to UNDERSTAND why we all laughed SO HARD that tears were STREAMING down our faces! Something happened in my mind… I suppose my parental defense mechanism kicked in… and all I can remember was the look on my sons face as all his hopes were smashed on the cold hard floor of that heartless arcade!
Everything started moving in slow motion… as I violently shook the dinosaur claw machine lever maybe 100 times in 10 seconds! No, I didn’t break the machine. I just knew that if I shook it long enough… Coree’s dinosaur would DROP! Come on… DROP DINOSAUR… DROP… DROP NOW! Everyone was CHEERING… it was absolute pandaemonium! This was the DEFINING moment of my 18 years of parenting… AND… no matter how hard and long I rocked the machine… this evil dinosaur WOULD NOT DROP!
I walked out of that arcade defeated last night… but this VACATION IS NOT OVER YET!
Sorry… there’s nothing spiritual about todays blog… but hey, it’s Sunday and we get to go to CHURCH! Maybe you can make the 10am service at Destiny Family Center… or catch it LIVE on the internet! Hope I made you guys SMILE this morning… please leave your comments and HAVE A SUPER DAY!
so sorry Coree that you didn’t get your dino but I bet it was funny watching your pops attack the machine for ya.
Wow Emily you will have to teach me your fishing technique.
We are so glad ya’ll are having a great trip. Your still inspiring wven when your not trying. So,hope ya’ll continue to have a great trip and I really enjoy seeing your pics. I even sent the turtle pic to my sisters who love turtles.
Hey Sammi… the turtles are so cool!!!