The Chuck E. Police

We got some coupons that expired just after Christmas, for 100 tokens for $10 at Chuck E. Cheese. So we took the kids out there at the end of December. They had a fun time, especially Katie, who was really enjoying all of these rides and games for the first time now that she's big enough to play.

The evening got a little more interesting when it was time to go. We were hurrying because Daniel still had to get to work that night, and we accidentally left Kevin's prizes behind. So just as we were leaving the parking lot he started crying and we turned around to go see if they were still there. Daniel pulled up in front of the entrance and I hopped out just as we both noticed flashing red and blue lights behind us. We figured it was parking lot security for the shopping center getting ready to tell us we couldn't park there.

Nope. Turned out to be the police. We never did figure out why they stopped us, but they were annoyed that we didn't have proof of registration or insurance on us. I don't know what happened to our registration, but we'd only owned the vehicle for a month, so it probably got carried in when we were cleaning something up. As for the insurance, we've been fighting with the company to send us a copy for months now, since July or August. They keep saying they will, and then not doing it. So we got a ticket, and have to force them to send us proof that we were insured before the court date.

When I got Kevin's prizes and came back to the van, the younger police officer tried to stop me from getting in, because he thought I was just trying to chat with Daniel because I knew him or something. When I said I'd been there at the beginning, he griped at me for "leaving the scene". The whole experience was surreal. I'm glad Daniel kept his temper through it, since I knew he was getting frustrated by everything and the fact that they wouldn't tell us why they'd stopped us.