Tales of Four

As you may have seen in this week's Project 365 post, last weekend was my nephew's 4th birthday at Chuck E Cheese. Funny enough my niece's 4th birthday was there as well, so it was a fun little blast from the past.
A reminder of her birthday party, as well as the times I went to Chuck E Cheese as a kid. I don't think it's quite what it used to be, but maybe that's what it's always looked like, I just didn't notice it as a kid. I did play a few games a skeeball, and while fun, again, not what it used to be like.
Speaking of changes, back when my niece had her birthday, she was able to be in the ticket blaster herself. And while I'm not sure if it's a preference now or a requirement, but all the birthday kids had a parents join them inside.
As for gifts, when we asked our nephew what he wanted for his birthday his only response was a Batman cake. And while that wish was granted it wasn't from us. We did stick with the Batman theme though, and found a playset, plus my requirement for any gifts, books.

First was one by my favorite childhood authors Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, Baloney (Henry P.). It's about an alien boy who looses his homework, and tells his teacher all the crazy things that happened to him while in the process. Each page contains some crazy sounding alien word, but turns out every word used it actually from a non-English language that just sounds crazy to us.

The second was from an author that is new to me, but I'm sure one I would have loved growing up. It's My Name is Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry. It's about a little boy who imagines himself to be all types of famous historical characters. What I loved is that there's the expected movie star and sports hero, but also a scientist, president, and Indian chief.

If you're curious, these are the posts from my nephew's first and second birthdays.

When was the last time you were at Chuck E Cheese?