Mandatory Fun

Put those two words together and you are bound to have a whole party of poopers!

Zach’s unit had a “Mandatory Fun” Day at the beach yesterday.  The boys had been looking forward to it all week long because Zach had assured them there would be a dunk tank.  They have been waiting all summer for a dunk tank.  What could be better than a FREE dunk tank!  (Tate had done his research and found out he could rent one for the whole weekend for $35.)

I was excited about the event because, where there is MANDATORY FUN, there is a FREE MEAL!  Whoop whoop!

So we show up to the event, and I’m all smiles until I see that Zach has obviously forgot a shirt to wear with his swim trunks and is wearing one that appears to have come straight from the trash!  He was just as surprised to see me dressed in jeans for a beach party. 

Everything went down hill from there.

The boys start searching for the dunk tank, and can only spot a kiddie blow up pool with about 3 inches of water in it.  --They are NOT IMPRESSED.  Zach is getting irritated as well.  There is a an older lady walking around handing out Hawaiian leis.  (As if putting flowers around the necks of Marines is going to MAKE them have a GOOD time!)  Bode, still trying to make the most of it, heads over to check out the list of events.  He comes back and reports that there are “Children’s Games” at 4:45.  There is only one problem….it’s 3:30 and it’s going to be VERY hard to convince Zach to even stay long enough to eat.  But you can be sure we are staying long enough to eat because Momma is NOT cooking tonight. 

So it’s finally time to eat.  What’s for dinner?  COLD. Bone-in. BBQ. Chicken.  Seriously?  How do you mess up the food?!!!  We sit down to eat this mess of a meal, and they are drawing tickets for door prizes.  For sure a prize would make this thing worth being at right? 

Wrong.  The door prizes consisted of “OFF” bug spray, travel size sunscreen, cheap plastic flyswatters, and thin paper umbrellas.  The next tier of prizes included chips and salsa wrapped in hot pink cellophane, and a fruit bowl with a stuffed pink flamingo.  And  the grand prize….are you ready?  A twin size air mattress complete with air pump.  --I think this is the part of the party that disturbed me the most.  It seriously looked like someone went to Kmart’s bargain aisle and blindly loaded up the cart.  Talk about government funds being COMPLETELY wasted.  $5 gift cards to McDonald’s or Sonic would have been more useful than the crap purchased.   And you’re probably thinking it was a bunch of young Marines that were in charge of the party right?  Nope.  It was the old lady passing out the leis.  This is her job, that the government PAYS her to do.  She makes MORE than Zach does to plan parties. 

Zach is more than ready to leave at this point, and I am too, except for the fact that Bode has been looking forward to this “Party” all week long and I am not going to disappoint him by leaving early.  HA!

There are around 15 kids who show up to play “Military Mash-up”.  A game of memory and speed!   Guess who won?!!!

This was the winning moment!

I am so glad we stayed.  I love, Love, LOVE this boy!