unbelievable!

You'll never believe this!
Ammon and I took the kids to a local pizza joint about a month ago and on our way out Carly begged us to play one of those "crane games." You're familiar with the kind. They have stuffed animals inside and they're all rigged so that in the off chance the crane actually does lift a stuffed animal it will inevitably drop it before it falls into the reward bin.
So, at first, we said, "No, those games just steal your money." But, Carly started to cry... and we caved. I thought we'd use this opportunity to teach Carly that Mom and Dad actually do know what they're talking about, but that backfired!

I put a quarter in the slot, maneuvered the crane over a plush bear, pushed the button, and up came not 1 but 2 toys! Carly was jumping up and down and I think my jaw hit the floor!

Fluke, right? Well, here comes the unbelievable part.

Yesterday, we went out to breakfast as a family and on our way out was another "crane game." Just like the time before, Carly begged us to play except this time I was feeling a little bit lucky. I dropped 2 quarters into the slot (this crane game had bigger toys) and to my surprise I hooked a toy! But, just as it was about to release the toy, the crane behaved as expected and the toy "mysteriously" slipped out-- just shy of the reward bin. The toy hovered on the edge of the bin so I put 2 more quarters into the slot and I tried using the crane to push the toy into the bin rather than trying the usual grab and lift method. Well, this didn't exactly work as planned and instead of pushing the toy into the reward bin, the crane lodged the toy into an empty space. I'd pretty much given up when Carly smacked the "Drop" button and to my utter amazement rose 2... that's right... 2 toys!!!

So, let's recap. We've played the "crane game" 2 times, spent a total of $1.25 and won 4 toys! Now, that's truly unbelievable!