Tired of McDonald's and more Ute gymnastics

The kids have been going crazy ever since they learned McDonald's would be getting Star Wars and Build-a-Bear toys.  And one day we passed by the McDonald's on Highland Drive just South of Fort Union and somehow their McDonald's radar eyes caught from the car window a small glimpse of the music playland and really wanted to go.  They have this same play feature at the McDonald's by the District (although the District one has a bunch of other fun stuff and the Cottonwood Heights one only has the music toys).  After Spencer's school I drove straight to the McDonald's.  Spencer's friend was with us but his mom recently brought Spencer to Farr's for ice cream so I didn't think she'd mind if I brought Eric to McDonald's with us.  Plus Tessa, Clara, and I hadn't even eaten lunch yet.  Of course buying 4 Happy Meals and my own food was pretty expensive.  But the boys got some Star Wars spinner toy and the girls got some little Build-A-Bear toys.  I was pretty disappointed with the toys this time.  And the kids weren't happy with their selection either.  While I typically tell the kids they get what they get the restaurant was pretty empty and I hoped a different toy might be cooler so I took the kids to the counter to ask if we could trade.  The staff was very unfriendly and uncooperative about the idea so the boys kept what they had and only Tessa traded so she didn't have the same toy as Clara.

The kids had a blast sliding down the piano slide and playing on the guitar and xylophone.  They also had fun playing the little touch screen computer games.  Here are some pictures of this McDonald's play area:

I've never particularly cared for McDonald's food and I think I've exceeded my tolerance threshhold.  I didn't even finish my food because it was so bad.  There was hardly any meat--it was mainly fluffy nothing bread.  And when I took a little bite of the thin patty of meat by itself I noticed it didn't taste a thing like beef.  Then I tried one of the kids' chicken nuggets and was really disgusted.  It was mushy and didn't taste anything like chicken.  So I've decided at least for a while I'll just buy the toy separately on occasion and then take the kids to Chik-Fil-A instead.  Really.  The customer service is great.  The staff is always happy, smiling, and friendly.  And they even tell me to go ahead and sit down and they'll bring my tray out when it's ready.  The restaurants are always clean when I go.  They even have the plastic placemats that stick onto the table for little ones.  And if  I forget to get one the person bringing around mints brings me one without me even asking.  They also have little plastic containers of Cheerios to keep the baby happy until her food comes, although someone is usually bringing out our food just as I am opening the container.  And they have coloring pages and crayons.  The one by South Towne has a fun treehouse that is perfect for little babies who can't climb, and even the older kids like it.  I don't remember if the other Chik-Fil-As I've been to have this same set up or not.  And the most recent time I visited I noticed they now have grilled chicken nuggets and squeezable applesauce for the kids meals if you'd like.  And they use real chicken.  Real chicken that tastes real good.  And the most recent time I went I noticed they dropped their prices.  I think the 4-piece nugget kids meal was only $3.49 or something really close to that.  And they didn't even charge an upgrade to a cup of fresh fruit or the applesauce.  And their toys are educational.  The last time I went they had books.  Tessa got one on Helen Keller and Clara got a little board book.  Over the summer they brought Chik-Fil-A sandwiches to the skate park on family skate nights and they were also passing around coupons so we ended up with quite a few buy fries and a drink get a free chicken sandwich coupons.  Plus Wednesday night you can get a free kids' meal with each adult meal you purchase.  I really regretted my trip to McDonald's.  The kids didn't even play with their toys after this day.  But Spencer's really begging to go back on the next toy rotation when they will have the Green Lantern Animated Series.

On the radio we heard an advertisement for the Utes gym meet against Stanford.  We had a free family pass (in the upper seats) from Tessa's gymnastic class so we decided to go.  It was a lot of fun and the U barely squeezed past Stanford for the win.  This time Tessa really enjoyed watching the older girls.  After the meet she said she was going to learn how to walk on the balance beam on her hands so she could win when she was bigger.  I told that to her gymnastics coach the following week.  Spencer also seemed to enjoy watching the cool tricks, but I think his favorite was riding on Trax.  Clara's attention didn't hold so I pulled up some Elmo videos on my new Smartphone for her.  But then all the kids wanted me to get them videos to watch.