Despite the previous hard night, Mom got us up early so that we could attend a Nickelodeon ‘Character Breakfast’ buffet. The kids were able to meet Diego, Dora, Sponge Bob, Little Bill, and Blue. Except Alice who missed Sponge Bob despite his standing literally three feet behind her chair. But she did get hugs from Blue, Diego, and Dora. After that Corwin and I headed back to get started on packing while Mom did what Alice and Charles had looked forward to the entire stay — getting a toy from the gift shop1. Alice got another Dora and Charles got Plankton to add to the Sleepy Time Crew.
Alice also got a Princess Wand, when at the end of Corwin and I using up the last of the arcade credits, we turned in our tickets2. Corwin wasn’t happy that I used them to get something for Alice, but my claim was that Corwin got to enjoy all the gaming, along with some by Charles3, so it was Alice’s turn to get something from the fountain of cash. Alice told me I was “the best Daddy in the whole world” when I gave it to her, another character trait that will take her far.
The afternoon we’re spending heading down to visit Sarah, a high school friend of Mom that we visited a few years ago. Last time we flew, but this time, since we drove, Mom said “we’re doing stuff and not spending 3 days of driving for two days of visit”.
1 I have previously referred to visiting the gift shop but I realize now that is simply a means to the end, getting stuff.
2 Arcades all seem to use game cards instead of tokens now, except for some ofthe gambling games. The Nick arcade no longer issues physical tickets but tracks them via the arcade cards.
3 Skee-ball is Charles’ game of choice.