Catching up. Our Kids are Muties.

Man, I'm tired. And full of food. Vacation has been pretty good to me, I get to indulge in staying up late and waking up late, and not feel guilty for it. And not having to cook these past two weeks has been great also. Too bad it ends in a couple of days! Saaaaaadddd.

Spent the week of Christmas in San Antonio, and it was mighty enjoyable to spend time with my kid sister, Vivian, who I ADORE. Michael has also been enjoying time with his younger brother. Both our siblings are in that in-betweeny time of being not quite a kid and not quite a young adult. The changes are very noticeable since we only see them twice a year, during their summer and winter school breaks. The last time I saw them the changes were so visible, their adult features had begun to take shape, and if they were X-Men they would soon be discovering their mutant powers. Yep, that's right. I saw these kids as "Mutants." Of course I mean that in the most lovable way.

This became even more apparent when we arrived at The Incredible (Christian) Pizza Company and I paid for our admissions. The cashier asked me, "So will this be for 4 adults?" To which I replied, "UHHHhhh..."

"Kids are under 13."
"OH! Then, 2 adults and 2 kids."
"(Pause.) They're both under 13?"
"(Pause.) YES."
"Ooookay."

I tried to keep a straight face and not look the man in the eye, because (except when playing the card game, B.S. a.k.a. Liar, a.k.a. Bullcrap, a.k.a. horse-poopy) I'm such a terrible liar. After paying and receiving our "credit cards" for the arcade, I turned around and looked at Michael and his younger brother, Will, and noticed how incredibly tall he had grown, he was actually taller than Michael! He totally did not look 12, and technically he had been 13 for 3 months. So I felt like a big dork for lying so badly. I also felt like my Dad because he would do the same thing to me when I was around 12, try to pass me off as younger than I was so that he could still get discounted rates. I used to hate it too because as a kid, seeing adults lie infuriated me, and ironically, I didn't want to be seen as a kid anymore, I wanted to BE an adult.

Well, we had a pretty fun time with the muties, er, the kids. Vivian got me hooked on this horrible Jumpin' Jackpot game, where you stand on a small platform and jump when you see the yellow lights go around and under your feet, like virtual jump rope, basically. You win more tickets depending on how many times you successfully jump over the "rope." I swear this game must have been invented by Star Trek Ferengis because it is deceptively simple.

"Stupid Humans! Jumpin' Jackpot will make us a great profit!"

The music is this crazy loud DDR kinda dance music which draws you in and gets you PUMPED, but I saw many n00bs, including myself, get caught on the "rope" on the first jump. Then it makes you want to pump more money into it because you think "Wait! give me another chance! I can do this!!!!"

So frustrating, because even though I knew it's wasn't a game you could "win" necessarily, I felt like I could have been awesome and gotten several more jumps in...if only I were 12 again.