Is 12 years of Marriage really incredible????

Well Jason and I have done it..we have defied the odds..we have been married for 12 years! Well I can't say it's been easy, but God knew what he was doing when he paired us up. I'm kind of a challenging wife...I have some (not many) flaws, but Jason seems to love me anyway. :) Every marriage has mountains of bliss and love and valleys of fights and anguish. When you have young children I think marriage is very hard. Life also deals you big blows now and then..job change or loss, death, abuse, life changing events, and tragedy. This makes a thick jungle called marriage that is filled with exhaustion, poopie diapers, messy houses, financial struggles, frustration with daily responsibilities and a life that doesn't resemble what you thought it would. My marriage has continuously been saved by God. I feel very lucky that Jason and I have found a church and a network of friends that help strengthen our bonds as a husband and wife. Our families are also very strong and help us see that life goes on..and marriage is a choice and a journey. Today I know that God wants me to be with Jason and He wants me to ask Him for help when I need it when it comes to my relationship with my husband. I pray daily for my husband and my marriage..because I think being married is harder that being a mother and I need help to do a good job in both.
So to celebrate our incredible journey...we took our kids and met sis and her family at Incredibles pizza in Urbandale. Apparently on Sundays if you pay $5 you can ride unlimited Go-Karts, mini golf, bumper cars, and bowling. Well my beloved is a frugal man and he thought he wanted to give it a try. Well apparently you have to buy the buffet to get in the door...$8.99 for adults and $6.99 for kids (3 and under eat free). Before I explain what went on, I want to tell you first we did have fun..because we were together as a family and laughed a lot. With that said..it was a trip...literally. I seriously felt like I had had too much to drink....Once you got into the game area (which was filled with expensive games strategically placed in and around our unlimited fun), the lights were lower and games were blinking and making lots of sound. It was acoustically inappropriate for gaming and my ears are still ringing like I was at a Van Halen concert. In the Go-Kart area which looked pretty cool, an announcer was doing a play-by-play of every race and every winner got a little trophy (Baby Katie got one) and you couldn't quite understand what they were saying because it was so loud and boomy in there, then there was music playing where the bumper cars were (before 8pm..some generic drum machine type dance beats..then after 8pm 107.5 music) So with the man yelling, the dance music, the whirling of the guitar hero and Dance Dance revolution arcade games along with the skee ball and bowling randomly banging it was incredibly LOUD. I seriously looked around at one point and saw 4 different toddlers crying and could not hear them. This makes for a scary place to get lost..and there is no one at the door checking hands like at chuck-e-cheese. It was so crowded (because of the deal) that we could only go on the bumper cars once, play one game of bowling and one game of mini golf and ride go karts twice..we were there for 5 hours..that's one ride per hour..that's a lot of waiting. When I really felt out of it was when I had just eaten 5 colors of jello (pretty cool actually) then played glow in the dark mini golf where the black lights made the carpet appear 3-D..and I could barley walk..with the loud music and the blinking lights..I felt like I had just had one too many margaritas (and I hadn't had any). Jason's summary...."It would be a great deal it you were able to get 2 meals out of it and stay about 9 hours." Well looks like you're going alone next time..I think I've had enough. The kids loved the food!!! My 4 yr old Katie said with a mouthful of brownies and cheese bread at 9:30pm, "Thumbs up on the food mommy..I like it!" I thought the salad bar was OK...pizza..not so great, but the dessert bar was awesome. There were chocolate chip and sugar cookies, ice cream, mini brownies, 5 different flavors of jello jigglers, pudding, Cherry pie, cinnamon rolls, bread pudding, and slushies: cola and cherry. I'm not a huge buffet fan, but the kids loved it! So my opinion of Incredibles was...kid pleaser..leave toddlers with sitter..seems better for school-aged kids. Need two parents if you have more than one child..to keep an eye out. Seems safe and very clean..we'll go back another time I'm sure.
HEADS UP..They have a toddler area..i didn't look too close but I think they have and mommy and me playtime in the am with a brunch?? Don't know much about that, but I'm sure you can look online and check it out...again very clean and plenty of seating for eating.