Figgles & Gun
Strike that. Reverse it.
Giggles and Fun has rapidly become a favorite of both Daphne and Jen.
Daphne gets to toddle, unfettered, around a giant play area and amuse herself with what to her must seem like a whirling galaxy of new toys.
And her mother gets to sit back and relax for a little while, confident in the knowledge that almost everything in the room is padded, cushioned and entirely baby-friendly. This allows Jen a brief respite from redirecting Daphne’s unerring magnetic attraction toward harm.
Where have they hidden all the sharp corners?
Of course, you do have to pay for this kind of peace of mind…
An all-day pass comes out to $10.95 per child ($8.95 if the kid is under 1), or you can buy a recurring Monthly Membership for $40. I’m not sure if Jen and Daph would actually be able to make it there 4 times in a month, but it’s certainly something we’ll be monitoring in case that option becomes cost-effective.
These horses and zebras don’t feed themselves, you know…
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that the germaphobe in me twists himself into emperor’s hat knots at the idea of Daphne playing with the same toys that the spawn of the unwashed masses have been touching, playing with, and/or gnawing on.
*shudder*
And this is the reason why I personally haven’t been to G&F yet. As I mentioned before, I used to work at Discovery Zone, so I know exactly how filthy these places can get. And having a teenager spritz some off-brand Lysol on things and hurriedly wipe them down at the end of the day is an ornamental effort at best.
But!
If I don’t actually see it, then I can pretend that the place is an immaculate paradigm of sterile toddler delight.
The idea of Daphne touching anything in here gives me a case of the jibblies.
But honestly that’s just me and my weirdness. I’m pretty sure it’s fine. (At least, fine when it isn’t flu season. Blech.)
Finally, the best, or perhaps the worst, selling point I could give you about Giggles & Fun is that your kid isn’t going to want to leave. At 4:00, when they start closing the place down, the inevitable response is a chorus of protests and infantile whines as the patrons are forced to go home.
Not entirely unlike last call at the pub.
Although I’m actually with the kids on this one: 4pm does seem awfully early to be closing up shop.
Guess they’re avoiding roller car rush hour.
Anyway, if you have a toddler that’s in need of entertainment, and you happen to be on the west side of Houston, Giggles & Fun is worth a stop. And no, they have not compensated me in any way for posting this.
j.s.
Yeah. It’s that kind of complicated.
“Who’s scruffy lookin’?”
Posted: July 18, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Hello Monday, My Old Friend
The thing about having a really fun weekend is that it makes returning to work the following Monday much more difficult.
And to be honest we didn’t really do a whole lot, but it was still really nice.
Jen and I played a bit of Arkham Horror on Friday night after Daphne went to bed. Things are becoming tenebrous in Arkham. Yig the Serpent God is half-awake from his antediluvian slumber, and we don’t have much time left to seal the gates before the eldritch demon awakens.
On Saturday we did quite a lot of of relaxing around the house. I took a jaunt to the local homebrew shop to pick up a new beer kit, and started the fermenting process that evening while watching some Overwatch streams. I’m trying out the Imperial Blonde Ale this time, which seems a bit more summery than the Scottish Ale I did before. We’ll see how it comes out.
Oh. The Scottish Ale homebrew. I totally forgot to talk about that, didn’t I?
Honestly, I’m pretty meh about this first batch. I mean, it does taste like beer.
Weak, slightly flat beer, but beer nonetheless.
I think my mistake was siphoning the wort from the kettle to the fermenter. In doing so I lost most of the trub, which is the sludgy gook that accumulates at the bottom of the kettle while boiling the ingredients. Apparently you need that stuff to keep your yeast happy.
And happy yeast is what makes booze happen.
So this time I dumped most of that stuff into the fermenter bucket; we’ll see if that improves things.
Feast, my little unicellular friends… Feast!
Sunday was a slow one too. Daphne has started taking some seriously extended naps recently (we’re talking close to 2 hours at a time), the timing of which put a damper on any kind of BumbleDay Excursion.
So I just chased her around the house for most of the morning/afternoon instead. And, of course, we watched our favorite videos…
Sunday night saw the temperature outside inexplicably dip below 90°, with a cool southerly breeze, so we took advantage of this gift of kindly clime and loaded our daughter into the REO Daphwagon for a walk around the creek. Which was the perfect way to end the weekend.
Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of this, because I was scouring the creekbed for Pokemon the entire time.
Yes, I am an idiot. I’ll remember next time.
Okay, see you tomorrow.
j.s.