Loop Day

Mommy pointed out tonight that today was September 3rd, which is Loop Day, something we actually have marked on our calendar because we tend to mark down things that are peculiar.  In this case, it literally is peculiar, because it's the day the characters in "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" exist.  To celebrate this much, because that's what we tend to do around here, we watched the movie itself tonight, and for Madison it was her first time.  We were somewhat concerned about the creepy parts of this movie, of course, but Madison is a bit more mature with this sort of movie content than even Daddy is, probably.  It's the other kind of movie content that's unacceptable, and so there is still plenty to not watch with her.  And in truth, we really don't have that much in our house that she couldn't watch yet, as we just don't like movies with too much of this or that in them, and by "this or that," you know exactly what I mean.

So it was not only Loop Day today, but it was also Labor Day, which meant a day off for Madison.  To celebrate this sort of occasion, she slept in.  We all did.  Except for Mommy, who woke up at 7:00 or so, and got straight to work.  The rest of us slept in, because the rodeo was a late night last night, and we had a pretty full day Sunday.

But today was a full day too, in time.  Daddy was working on the board game some more today, writing thank you notes, and making tea.  That last one is important.  Meanwhile, Madison was playing piano and doing her artwork.  She's been drawing people a lot lately, mainly portraits of herself or other girls in various fashionable attires.  The illustrations are quite nice, actually.  We read another chapter in the ongoing X-Men series, watching Stryfe battle a weakened Apocalypse.  Reading one comic per day in this ongoing series has been great, because it'll will last a really long time.  Daddy has a lot of comics in his collection, and this is all pretty early on.

At some point today it was decided that we would do something outside of the house, and the logical destination was chosen:  Jurassic Park.
 

This was an obscure item on the "to do" list for Daddy, a visit to an arcade that still had a Jurassic Park video game.  The first Jurassic Park shooter game isn't around here - Mommy and Daddy played that first game a long time ago, before we were even married.  We were in that little mini-theater experience with the curtains and the big speakers, when that huge Tyrannosaurus rex sticks his head out and roars, and you were just blown away at the moment.  And then you were running for your life!  Fun game!

This updated version was a lot of fun too - we had to "capture" a triceratops, a Tyrannosaurus rex, and a spinosaurus as well.  By "capture," we mean "shoot 15,000 rounds of ammunition at them, along with all the associated raptors, pteranodons, compies, and large creepy insects.  I think the favorite target of the day were the archaeopteryx, who would explode with a burst of feathers.  Take that, Darwin!

Anyway, this was one of those moments that Daddy was waiting for:  this game, with Madison as a co-gunner.  The two of us rode through Isla Nublar, sometimes flying, and sometimes fleeing in terror.  Madison turned out to be a really good shot by the end, outshooting Daddy the last two levels, but by the end of the game, we captured our big game, "rescuing them," and taking them off the island.  I have no idea where they need to go in order to be rescued, but I'm assuming this might have something to do with the events of the last movie perhaps?  Anyway, it was fun.

How did we get to this game, you ask?  We went to Stars and Strikes today, which had a special where you could get unlimited video games and laser tag and bumper cars for a smaller price.  Madison had a wonderful time!  So did Daddy, of course.  We did the laser tag a few times, and in both cases, Madison wound up the high scorer.  The last time was a bit more significant because we had about five or six others in the laser tag maze with us.  It's a multi-level place, with lots of places to shoot from or hide at or run around screaming.

We did the bumper cars too, these circular vehicles that simulate what it would be like to drive in Atlanta.  If all cars had these inflatable bumpers around them, Atlanta traffic might be a little fun.  This is yet another great idea, and another reason you should vote for me as governor.

Anyway, we played a lot of video games, from Ghostbusters to tank battles.  We shot basketball hoops and played other games of chance for a bit, and had a great time.  It was lots of fun!

Tonight we read chapter three of "The Grim Grotto," and during the typical hide-and-seek moment where Madison says "I'm Ready," and Daddy and Mommy have to come up and find her... we played "Run Rabbit Run" on the laptop as we walked around searching.  It is a pretty creepy and slightly addictive song.  It's basically a must-listen-to though, if you're celebrating Loop Day.  And if we were to have a day that we needed to live in over and over and over again, as we said our prayers tonight, this in fact was a good one to live.  It was fun and full, and completely free of hollowgasts.