Hanging out with Lola Days - 2022/06/15 and 17

One of the great parts about being back in California is getting to see old friends. Ian has a couple very special friends from school that he's missed dearly. We got to meet up with Brylie earlier in the visit. Today we are meeting with his second girl friend. Lola! She's missed Ian a lot too. We've sent pictures and videos back and forth, and even did a Flat Lola project to help with her school! But there's nothing like actually getting to see someone in person. 

Ian was so excited the night before that he couldn't sleep. The next morning, he made sure to wear his nicest clothes (a collared shirt and jeans) and wanted his hair combed. He even requested that Alli wear a dress. He's serious about making a good impression! 

And so on a Wednesday, we drove from Anaheim over to Redondo Beach and Perry Park (aka Taco Bell Park). There we waited for Lola to arrive.  

The kids had a great time running around and playing together. 

We love the park, with all the things to climb on and so many different things to do. 

Lola and her family supplied the chips and Capri-Sun, we provided the pizza and veggies. It was a tasty lunch 

After lunch, where should we go? Let's go to a place where a kid can be a kid! Chuck E Cheese!

I remember coming to Chuck E Cheese as a kid and getting a handful of tokens to go play games and win tickets. It's a little different these days. Now instead of tokens, you get a playcard for unlimited games for a specified amount of time! And Wednesdays are $18 per hour of unlimited playtime! Wednesdays look like they're pretty dead inside. 

One downside to getting unlimited playtime though is that it seems like they've crippled the ticket payouts. Instead of getting 10-15 tickets per game, you're lucky to get 5. 

So you might not earn as many tickets, but you do get to play a whole lot of different games with no thought to rationing out your tokens. The kids have been watching arcade videos on YouTube and they recognize so many of these games. They love being able to play them in person. 

Ian and Lola had fun playing different games together, taking down lots of dinos in Jurassic Park. 

This Rockin & Rollin game was so difficult to get. Lola and Ian tried multiple times to light up all the letters to get the bonus tickets, but just couldn't get that O. 

But who gets it on her first try? Alli! Good job girlie!

Lola and her dad racing together. 

Alli is trying to imitate her cousin Austin who plays quarterback for his college football team. Get those 50 points Alli!

The adults even got a try to show off our skills. A lot of these are harder than they look!

This wheel reminds me of the Big Wheel on The Price is Right! Give it a spin and win some tickets! 

They had a lot of ticket games here along with a bunch of video games. This one was a full-on motion simulator, taking them through a mine on a crazy ride, and the chairs move too. 

There's a little kids section too, like the quarter machine rides you see at some super markets. I think it's fun that some will actually print a physical photo to go along with your ride. 

Taking a spin in a cup of hot chocolate. 

Smacking those frogs. Poor frogs. 

This is a game of skill, not strength. Hit the button with just the right force and you'll win 50 tickets!

Feed that dog some tasty treats. 

Whew! That hour went by so quickly! Time to see how many tickets we've earned and figure out what kind of prizes we can take home. Along with having tickets that are difficult to earn, I feel like the prizes are a little pricy too. In the hour of playing, I think they've earned about 700 tickets each. Those Troll plushes on the top row are 8000 tickets! The board game Trouble is 6000 tickets. Oh, but don't worry if you don't have enough tickets, you can always pay 1 penny for each ticket you're short. That makes the Troll dolls worth 8000 pennies, or $80! 

Good thing they have plastic toys and small candies on the bottom shelf. 

Plus there's something that I feel is actually not too bad of a deal. 300 tickets for a bag of cotton candy. 

Everyone got something they were happy with. Good job kids! 

Lola, I'm so glad we got to see you and hang out on this trip! 

With all the things we had going on, I thought that would be the last time we'd be able to get together. We knew we were going to be back in the South Bay and Lola and her mom made the time to meet up with us again. Ian and Alli were so happy! 

And even though we just met up two days ago, Lola had some special presents for both Alli and Ian. Friendship bracelets (which Ian hasn't taken off in a long time now, and from what I hear, Lola too). 

And a framed version of a photo I sent her mom from Wednesday. Aww, that was so sweet. 

They ran around the new playground for an hour, along with Lola's sisters and a friend. 

All hanging out together. Probably talking about Minecraft or something. 

Time to go. I know, it's sad. Let's get a group picture. 

Hugs all around. 

Bye Junie!

Bye Lola! 

Super glad we got to hang out not just once, but twice! Hopefully we'll be able to stop back by California again soon!