What the H*** is Monkey Joe's?

I'll tell what it is. It's this place where you take kids to get them tired. Isabelle had her first birthday party here. One of the kids from her class and her twin sister were having a party. They turned 5 and decided to have some friends over to Monkey Joe's. It turns out there was cake and ice cream, and everything else you'd expect. The venue was a bright building with several big inflatable bouncy toys. One was just for bouncing in, another two were huge slides, and the last one was an obstacle course.

Here is the girl and the layout along with a few action shots and some video for the grandparents.

Isabelle seems to have had a blast. I understand the rates to get in are a little high but for this occasion everything was included. The place has free wireless Internet and a wide screen TV for the parents. All in all a pretty cool spot. The birthday cake was even chocolate! Now, the grass... When we moved in we found a yard that wasn't as well maintained as we would have liked. In addition to weeds, dead trees, and lots of leaves to rake up, within a few months we had moles. The little guys may be cute bet they make a mess. To top it all off Maggie has developed an interest. At least five times she has gone out a dug up some of their tunnels. Needless to say it hasn't helped the lawn. In an effort to get rid of them without poison or chemicals (because of Maggie and Isabelle) I went out and got a couple of sonic deterrents. They seem to have helped since there are no new tunnels but the old tunnels remain...and Maggie keeps digging. The latest was the seeding, lime, and fertilizing. We had a local outfit come in and have a look and they decided we certainly needed some work. The interesting thing was the seeding. They asked us to mow as short as we could. This was supposed to give the new seed a chance to grow. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. It's been two weeks of watering three times a day and the grass is sprouting. Now that its cooler I suppose it has a bit of a chance. Another new thing with us has been the Y, that's YMCA. The workouts have started and I even started a running program. I'll keep you posted on the results. Hopefully there will be less of us around in a few months. Food and restaurants are also newsworthy with us. We've eaten at two new places in the last few weeks. One was Pho Noodleville on Orchard Park Drive. It was some of the best Asian food I've had in a while. The menu was incredible as there was so much to choose from. We had calamari and spring rolls to start. Isabelle had a grilled chicken that just melted in your mouth with all the usual fixings (vermicelli noodles, sprouts, carrots, cucumber, etc...). Jane had a curried chicken that was also very nice while I had their special beef dish. Mine was spicy in a good way while the curry was just lovely. We ate too much and didn't have any leftovers or dessert. In the end the price was right and the service fast and efficient. $$ for price, :) :) :)because we'll be back, and ***for the food. Next is Bucky's Bar-B-Q. We ate there Friday night and had a pretty good meal. It's the kind of place you order and pay and the guys behind the counter plop everything down for you on plastic plates. Barbecue here is nothing without the sides so we got green beans, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, sweet baked beans, and cucumber salad (next time there will be sweet potato crunch and maybe Mexican pinto beans). Isabelle had chicken, Jane had chicken and pulled pork, and I had ribs and pork. In the end the pork and ribs were the same and left a little to be desired. The sauces on the table were OK but to be honest I appreciated the beans the most. The price wasn't bad and we got there before the rush so it was fast but it likely won't be a regular stop. :) overall, $ for price, and * for the food (for now). Another new discovery on my part is Woodcraft. They are the Lee Valley Tools of the US, without all the garden stuff. When it comes to tools though, they are all that and more. I couldn't believe the woods they have in the store here on Woodruff Road. There was purple wood, red wood, and all sorts of crazy exotic woods. I need to do some research and get back into making kayak paddles. I think I could make some really beautiful stuff.