Last Weekend of Summer

While Dan and I were in Cape May for our anniversary overnight trip, Mandy was at home entertaining Kip and Ivy to some end of summer fun. She took them to a place called Life Town where the kids were given money and able to explore a little town with shops and places to take care of business like the Dentist and the bank. They were there for two hours and while Mandy said it was a little intense on all the enforced rules, the kids had fun.

They got Shake Shack for dinner. Woot!

On Sunday we had one more activity on our summer bucket list so we all went to the Hasbro Arcade at the American Dream Mall. The kids earned this activity by filling-up their kindness jars over the spring/summer months. The place was packed and not at all unique compared to any other arcade (save your money and go to Chuck-e-Cheese) but both Kip and Ivy love arcade games so we enjoyed it anyways. 

Dan and Kip loved the car and racing games.

And Ivy was much more into games that earned tickets and attempting to get loot from the claw games. 

The claw games at this place were legit RIGGED. No joke we played one game for over 30 minutes. Mandy had picked-up a stuffy with the claw fully grasped and raised at least 6 times and EVERY time the claw opened before it should have and dropped the stuffy. We eventually ran out of money on the game card and gave up. We tried one more time on Kip's card and still lost so after over 30 attempts we got nothing. We walked away and a mom and her daughter walked up to the machine we had just been playing and in their FIRST ATTEMPT they picked up THREE stuffies in one grab and the claw stayed closed and dropped all three into the hatch. 

Mandy and I were STUNNED. I walked up to the mom and I said, oh boy you better play the real lottery today because we've been playing that machine for over 30 minutes and got nothing. The little girl looked down at Ivy and asked her which one she wanted and offered Ivy the stuffy of her choice! It was the sweetest most genuinely kind thing and Ivy was so happy. It was so sweet of the girl and her mom and I thanked them profusely. Ordinarily I would have turned down the toy but for real, we legitimately had that toy won several times and the claw kept dropping it and Ivy was really disappointed. Ivy offered the little girl a piece of her candy in return and the girl gave her a hug. It was really sweet. The girl was probably ten years old and I think it was really a life changing experience for Ivy (at least I hope it was). She was able to experience an older kid she didn't know and didn't look like her being genuinely nice and generous all on her own. It really touched my heart and I think it did for Ivy too. Look at her in this photo below with the gifted stuffy.

Have you every seen that Friends episode where they are in Vegas and Phoebe is talking about the people that lurk around waiting to take the slot machines that other people give up on? That's what this felt like. We paid into the game solidly and poured all of our positive energy and manifested so hard. And nothing. It was crushing and then the next person hits the jackpot. That's life. But in the same hand, it opened the opportunity for someone else to be generous and that's something I'll never forget. 

We left the arcade and no one was in tears and that's an accomplishment.