A Playground Named Mobius

Since Monday was a Federal and State holiday, the wife and I got to sleep in. The Evil Corporation for which we both work is open for business 24/7/365, but our particular departments do work a holiday schedule, which means most people got the day off. This year, we both got the day off. So, we didn't set the alarm.

Not everybody in the family had the day off. So, we got to host our oldest granddaughter for the day. After the required viewings of "Charlotte's Web 2" and "Shrek," it was time to eat. The wife and I discussed going to a movie. There is a theatre near the mall. So I suggested Burger King. And not just any Burger King, but the big Burger King near the mall. It took some doing to get the granddaughter to agree, but we've dealt with little ones before. She was ready to go. So we went.

This Burger King is a three-story affair. Now, if you've never seen a three-story Burger King, you really ought to. Perhaps they are common where you come from. But I don't come from there. This is the only one a poor old Georgia boy has ever seen. And I've seen the Pyramids. And while this doesn't compare, to a five-year-old girl, it was pretty cool.

She ordered a Chicken Tenders Kid's Meal (4-piece). When we sat down to eat, she wanted to play first. So she played a little, then sat down to eat. I asked her if it tasted like chicken. She shook her head no. Now that's funny. She ate pretty quickly and then went back to playing.

Let me tell you about this Burger King. I already mentioned it's three stories high. Most of the building is taken up by a large playroom. It has large blue, red, yellow, and green tubes running all over the place overhead. And the place was crawling with kids. Literally.

They have a BK Kid statue that indicates "You must be under this height" to play on the playground. That appeared to be a suggestion, not a rule. There were some big kids playing. And lots of little ones. It was fun watching them play. They were all having a good time. Even little Sherman Klump who was making the whole structure shake. But it looked like fun for all the kids.

Burger King seems to have put a lot of money into this place. And the thing that one group of kids seemed to enjoy the most? Hooking the belts on three high chairs together and putting little Joey inside one of the chairs and pushing the whole contraption around. Big Billy got in the last chair of the train and was dragging a regular chair around while Little Susie was playing engineer by pushing the first chair.

The granddaughter asked if she could hide where we couldn't see her. I said sure. So, she did. Every few minutes I'd get up and walk around and look for her. But she was hiding very well. After a while, the wife began to get worried that she was lost. Remember I said that bigger kids were playing on the playground? I found a big kid and gave here the granddaughter's description and name. I figured she was old enough to understand and do the job. She wasn't in a training bra; I think the thing was already trained. Either kids are developing earlier, or she was WAY too old to be playing on this thing. Anyway, she send the granddaughter down. Her "Mee-Mee" hugged her and felt better. Then she went back to the top level.

There were several people there who had brought some work, or college work, to the BK. And, even with all the racket going on, they were getting stuff done, or so it appeared. The children weren't bothering them. They were having a good time climbing the tower, crawling through the tubes, or sliding down the corkscrew slide. Or pushing around high chairs.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time. And it's a lot cheaper than a movie.