Jungle Jim's, Part 1

Casi sent me some pics of Jungle Jim's a few years ago but I had no idea it was going to be humongous.  It's by far one of the coolest stores I've ever been to.  

Apparently the idea was to have a monorail on the property but it was never completed so the tracks remain, unattached, and this train sits on one of them.  You can tell I've lived on the west coast a long time when my first thought was, 'I hope they don't have an earthquake'.  

There is stuff EVERYWHERE.  They sing! They move! They light up!

There was so much cheese I couldn't believe it. 

The bathrooms are a trip.

At first I was a bit put off by porta johns in the store but it's like the TARDIS.  Bigger on the inside.   

The shoe chair is facing the door of the bathroom.  Directly behind me were about 7 stalls and 4 sinks. 

PEZ galore!

Murals on the walls everywhere.

The pastries and candies were amazing.  

Russell's eyes glazed over at the meat counter.

They also had some frozen game and exotic meats.  I call this 'Frozen Nope Rope'.

Someone in one of my Harry Potter groups posted pics of HP stuff she'd gotten at this same Jungle Jim's, so I made it a point to find that section.  I got some great swag.  I was chuffed.

Love the Gilligan's Island boat.

This was Robin Hood in a huge display over the British foods area.

I know that's supposed to be Little John but it looks more like Grizzly Adams

Shrine candles

So many beautiful hookahs and the prices weren't bad.

Out & About

In the course of conversation, Casi mentioned that there was a casino nearby.  Russell perked up and said, 'Casino?? Where?'  We left Jeff & Val to babysit the boys and we took Casi for a much-needed mom's night away from the house.  We went to Miami Valley Gaming and it was a really great casino.  I have trouble with too much audio-visual stimuli in casinos but this one was awesome.

We had to sign up for our free play cards and we were each given a lucky buckeye! I was so excited! I've never seen one before....other than the guy that dresses up as the mascot for THE Ohio State University.  Ohio is the Buckeye State.

Casi & I didn't do so well but Russell won a couple hundred dollars so we went out to dinner at the Rusty Bucket at the Dayton Mall.  I had the best quesadilla EVER and I can't stop thinking about it.  

I was so happy to be in Bob Evans country again.  I love this restaurant.  Russell & I went for breakfast there a couple of times.

I get a huge kick out of this picture of Jeff because I shot one of Mark, directly below, and he's making the same face. 

Twinsies!

He makes the funniest faces

Fathers and sons.

I have to say that Dale was extraordinarily well behaved during our outing to this international grocery store called Jungle Jim's.  We wandered around for hours and he only got fussy towards the end when he got hungry and thirsty, but he quieted down with a couple of juice boxes.

Teensy toesies.

 That time Grampa fell in love.

Pizza rolls!

Jeff being goofy

Dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown.  Again, both kids were beautifully behaved.

There was an adorable little girl at the table behind us and Dale was 'flirting' with her.  It was so cute.  She was probably about 4.

I love them so much.

 So. Very. Much.