Catfight - rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreer!

Like I said, last week Liam and I met up with Deanna and Ryan at the Wild Zone. It's been a while since the boys have seen each other for any length of time, and high time for a playdate. We knew there wouldn't be a lot they could do there, still being too small, but the one thing that Liam fell in love with last time we were there was the ball room. So we bought tickets for the ball room and went down.

Upon reaching the ball room we were informed that you're not allowed in without socks on. It was a hot day in late June - do you think we had socks? Noooo. Liam was wearing his Robeez which apparently were good enough, but Deanna had to schlep Ryan back to the desk to buy him a pair of socks.

Finally, we're in the ball room. It's chaos. Kids are running everywhere. There's a little section called the Toddler Room, where the action isn't quite as frenetic and the balls aren't so deep. Deanna and I have to crawl in through a tunnel to get in with Liam and Ryan, but we really have no choice, because they are too little to get in themselves (though they love it once they get in there).

So we've been in the ball room for a while when one of the high school kids running the joint comes and tells us that the other parents have been complaining that we are in the Toddler Room with our kids. We ask what the problem is and he really doesn't know, just says the other parents aren't happy. We sort of laugh it off because really, what are we hurting?

Then this hugely obnoxious woman comes over and starts yelling at us to get out of the ball room. Her big gripe is that when Deanna and I are in the ball room, her kids don't have enough room to be in there too. We suggest that because our children need us in there with them, and we got there first, and perhaps her kids ought to wait their turn and they can go in when we leave. She starts calling us names and demands to know what gives our kids the right to be in there instead of hers. We point out that her kids can be in there in addition to ours, and if not then perhaps they can wait and go in after. She says Liam and Ryan shouldn't be allowed in in the first place. We point out that they are indeed toddlers and it's a toddler's room, so where's the issue? Anyway, it went back and forth and around in circles for a while. I think the word she kept lobbing at us was inconsiderate, though I'm not sure what gave her kids the right to be there any more than ours.

When we decided to leave, we went down the manager's office to complain. The manager was apologetic but not overly helpful - she bought us off with some free coupon books and asked us to come back on another day and give it another try. Incidentally, as we were walking around afterwards, Ms. Obnoxious passed us by with her kids; the two very same kids who had been playing in the ball room with us all along, and seemed very friendly towards Liam and Ryan. So, what was the problem again??

We took the kids on the ferris wheel and airplanes, and Ryan (being more of a daredevil than Liam) also tried out the magic bus. Liam was having a bad teething day and was a little crabby. OK, a lot crabby. But hey, we have coupon books, we can go back and give it another try. Though, to be honest, maybe next time we'll go when they're closed and just sneak in. It's a lot easier that way.