We Went Bananas

Yesterday we had another open house. I don't know how people with small children ever sell their houses, to be honest. It's hard enough to keep a house relatively clean, but showroom spotless? On a moment's notice?

Well, you know us. It's hard to get moving on the weekend, and we typically can't be expected to get out before noon.

The open house started at 10. We woke up and mad dashed to get the kids dressed fed, and us showered, and the house scrubbed (well, Nic scrubs. Daddie keeps the kids quiet and out of the way).

We went to "Go Bananas" in Arlington Heights (http://www.gobananasfun.com) to keep busy. We've been wanting to go for months, and that seemed like a good day to go. Too cold to be outside just yet.

Well, it's like a very big, clean, nice, Chuck E. Cheese. They have food that's better, drinks that are a little better, mostly the same games, but they have a pretty decent selection of rides.

That's right.

Rides!

For example, they have a roller coaster shaped like a dragon. It's very like what you'd find at a county fair, but nice, clean, and for $7, you can get a discount pass for unlimited rides.

Gamble did what any kid would do.

He rode, then got off, ran to the entrance, rode again, and again, and again. Reminds me of the last half hour before closing at Cedar Point when I was in high school. On and off the Gemini as fast as our legs would carry us.

We were there for several hours. I played video games, Skee-ball, and rode with Gamble (they have the kickingest bumper cars. They drive like tanks (two handed control)!). Nicole even got to play "Deal or No Deal" for tickets (she was awesome at it and handily trounced this Daddie), and claims to have suffered a Skee-ball injury from playing so much.

And towards the end of it, I had to cash in the tickets. Six hundred tickets! Oh my, it took a while to feed into the machine.

And then I got done, receipts in hand, and went to find my little buddy to do a little of "Wheel of Fortune"-style shopping (for those of you who remember the shopping they used to do. "And I'd like the rest on a Service Merchandise gift certificate, Chuck.").

Except he didn't seem to be on the coaster. This had happened throughout the day, but always turned out to be just us not seeing him as he was ducked down, too short, etc.

Not this time. He was most definitely not on the coaster.

I found and told Nicole, who was sitting in the cafe area. He'd not come to see her, and that's where we would have expected to look. I went back to the back of the arcade, where they had another ride, one in which the kids could control the height of their banana-planes. Nope. Not there.

And then I had a thought. Earlier in the day, we'd been lucky enough to catch Mommie just as she was going out to the car. We'd not known she was leaving. What if he thought that we were outside and wandered out there into the parking lot?

Panic rose, and I made my way to the front of the place.

He wasn't at the front. And he didn't appear to be outside anywhere.

I wasn't comforted. Not one bit. I went back inside, back towards the coaster. And I see Mommie walking with Gamble. She sat down in the cafe and we talked with him, and I got the scoop on what happened.

Gamble was worried when he got off the coaster. He didn't see us where we were, and walked up to the front so he could see if he could see the car through the front window. Someone guided him to the counter, and they asked him for his name and his Mommie's name, which he gave correctly.

They called her on the intercom, and she picked him up.

Scary? Yes. Our first real scare. And the reason parents give their kids cell phones. We got off light, and I learned a valuable lesson.

At the first sign of trouble... cover the exit. That's a rookie mistake for a four-year veteran of the parenting force to make. I won't make it again.