There was a Mechanical Bull in the Back?!

When Chase and Ryder were 8 months old we joined a playgroup.  We have met weekly ever since and though some of the original members are no longer weekly faithfuls, those of us who have remained have added more kids to the brood.  Over the last three years we, the parents and the children, have gotten to know each other and have become great friends.  For this, I know I am lucky.
We have gone out socially with all of the couples of this playgroup and it is always interesting when we remove the children to see what conversations can actually be like.

As it turns out, we have gone out the most with Brett and Randi Cohen.  We always have a really good time with them (not to mention that their daughter, Liv, ranks very high on Chase and Ryder's list.)  So, during Labor Day Weekend we got babysitting and headed out without the kids and with the Cohen's to end our summer fun.

Buddakan was fantastic as we've learned to expect every time we dine at any of Stephen Starr's restaurants. Though second in ranking, behind the original Old City gem, or perhaps even third following the gem's Big Apple copycat, Buddakan offered us everything tthe name has come to mean.
Ordering from the new "black menu," allowed us a tasting experience of culinary perfection.  Though said to be perfectly portioned, it was enough food for satiating and beyond.  We dined, we drank, we laughed.  The night could have ended there and it would have been a great night out.  But, the night continued and resulted in, perhaps, one of the most memorable, and interesting, in quite some time.

You see, from Buddakan, we were joined by another couple (yep, they could have joined us for dinner with all of the food we had) and in search of a nightcap we headed to Game On!  What we liked about this bar was 1) we could have watched the end of the Phillies game had it not already been over and 2) it was empty when we got there.  Just our speed.

After we ordered our drinks, Randi remembered that Game On! comes well equipped with a mechanical bull.  A MECHANICAL BULL!!  What began as fun taunting from one party to another ended up as a night surrounded by 200+ college coeds and a mechanical bull ride from each and every one of us!!

Let's start with the coeds.  Unbeknownst to us, every Friday night at midnight, all Summer long, there was a bikini contest atop the bar..  Apparently, a Rowan student was a finalist and her and her closest several hundred friends were there for the event.  There's nothing like a bar full of college students to remind us we are well past our bar day prime.


And so, with a larger audience than I would have preferred, I rode a mechanical bull.  Todd rode a mechanical bull.  All of us rode a mechanical bull.  And, it was so much fun!!  I admit I was a bit shy at first and thanks to Brett, who went first, and Stepehani who followed his lead in the bet, I was able to get past my timid side and straddle the bull.  Yes, I did finish my drink first as well....just to take the edge off.

It's no easy task to stay on the bull.  A bunch of twenty somethings cheering you on does not help the ego, though you would think it might.  Watching all of those before me, one hand on the rope the other up with a bent elbow and spread fingers, ready to high-five the spectators, I tried to learn a few pointers before my ride.  Once on, there was little thought and no plan, just an adrenaline building, white knuckled grasp as my body contorted in ways I didn't know it could..  Contorted in ways that required tylenol the next morning.  But, contortions aside, it really was a blast.  And, as it turns out, the secret is simple: lean forward when the bull goes forward.  It did seem to work for a few seconds:)