We are back in Yuba City, California for Christmas. My wife grew up here and my family settled here in 1987 after fleeing the oil slump induced recession in Alaska. We have not lived here for nearly 15 years but we come every Christmas to see my wifes family and visit my family in nearby Sacramento.
Our boys have been incredibly good on numerous shopping trips with their mom (who arrived a couple weeks ahead of me) and grand parents so we decided to take them out for something fun. About half of the games and rides at the arcade are out of order but we played air hockey, ski ball and a few other ticket generating games which are highly efficient at turning a twenty five cent token into five cents worth of tickets that you can spend on over priced trinkets and candy. They loved it.
In the end, my 6 year old and nearly 4 year old son scored a whoopee cushion, a tootsie pop and dual light up ninja swords with swish and clank sounds. Probably $5 worth of toys that cost nearly $20 in tokens, but what made it great was the sense of pride, accomplishment and joy they had in contending for their haul - no longer mere toys, this was loot.
