Last month, we celebrated our son’s 9th birthday. It’s tradition in our home to let the birthday boy (or girl) pick the activity for the evening, and Gabe picked Rock ‘n’ Rollers, a local roller rink. Lucky for him, it was a week night, and the rink was unusually quiet. In fact, we were the only ones there for part of the time, and the rest of the time there were only two other people sharing the rink with our family.
Gabe had a ball.
He got those skates for his birthday, and he was loving them!
It’s funny, though, because the hit of the night had to be the games. What is it about token games and kids this age? They work so hard to earn a few tickets, most of the time winning a ticket or two at a time.
Ella, however, got lucky. She hit the jackpot on one game and won 250 tickets in one swoop.
I think Gabe was a bit jealous, but we had them split the tickets, so he was happy.
I loved watching the kids pick out their prizes.
For the record, having even 150 tickets each doesn’t yield much in return. (But I didn’t have to tell you that, right?)
But those little toys bring lots of enjoyment.
And if something so small as plastic vampire teeth helps make the day of a 9-year-old birthday boy, it’s worth it.
Honoring the Class of 2020: Gabe Farnsley 
The very best kind of birthday party, huh!! I have a friend who has triplets and every Sunday one of them gets to choose where they’re gonna eat out but it’s also their day then to help with whatever needs doing for mom and/or dad. Can’t do the birthday thing like this for triplets but oh well.
Ooh, I really like the theory behind the help-Mom-and-Dad-and-you-get-to-pick-the-dinner-spot” idea!