Jump, Jump, Jump

Wow! This is so much fun!!!

On Valentine's Day, we went to Pump It Up for a birthday party for one of Allie's classmates, Elliott P. I knew Allie would have fun because she loves to jump and bounce. I wasn't sure how she would do, though with all the kids running and jumping around her. But, we ended up seeing a lot of our classmates (okay, some have moved onto other rooms, but I'm refusing to admit it) and they all are very good with Allie. She didn't get run over at all!

For those of you that don't know much about this type of entertainment, let me just say it was so much fun for the kids and their parents! Basically, we were in a large room with the inflatable bounce houses and large slides. I first took Allie into one of the bounce houses that wasn't occupied yet to see how she would do. Oh my goodness... she loved it. Her and I bounced around and then despite her signing "again, again, again", we climbed out of it and headed to the big slide - we were officially ready to do it. We climbed to the top, Allie clapped and we slid down really fast. We were both immediately hooked. Her most used sign of the day was "again". If you've never been to one of these places - you need to go. Lots of fun and plenty of laughs!

The three of us really had a fun time and it was fun to see and talk to many of the parents that we've known while being at Hand in Hand. Many of their children I don't see much anymore as we are in different classes.

I do have to point out that while we all had fun, there was a moment of embarrassment for me. In the second room we went to, there was a bit of a "maze" type bouncy thing that sounded like fun. I wasn't sure if I should take Allie in for fear of not being able to do it with her. But, then was encouraged by Tim to just try it and I decided, what the heck, what could go wrong? Well, we climbed in, went down a little slide and then through a little maze to get to the middle. In the middle there was a large hill to climb complete with foot holds and rope to use to climb up. Great if you plan to climb with two hands. But, since I was holding Allie, that wasn't possible. I was encouraged to "just climb, it's easy" by a cute 4 year old girl. She also told me that if I continued on (under, over, etc.) there was another hill, but no foothold or ropes, so I never even went that way. I confidently went back the way I came - through, under and around to get to the bottom of the small slide which I then realized was too big to climb back up. So, I was a bit stranded for a moment and could see Tim way at the other end waiting for me, but I couldn't get there and he couldn't see me. I sent my cute little 4 year old informant friend to get help and after two attempts she found Tim (the only man with an arm brace) and I handed Allie over the tall wall and I continued on with slight frustration. All of this was fine as no one but Tim, Allie, the 4 year old and I knew I had been stuck anyway. Until I got to the top of the wall. I see all the kids at the bottom of the slide posing for pictures. I had this image of me sliding down the slide and knocking into a few of them - not a pretty image. I managed to make it down the slide only to be in the middle of all the party goers with the proud parents all snapping pictures (no children were knocked over by me). I'm sure someone will scrapbook the "lunatic Mommy" who went into the bounce house without her daughter while everyone else is trying to organize a group photo.

I'm hoping someone found it entertaining. I saw the hilarity, but I'm probably the only one. Allie did make it in time for the group photo and all was well. I'm so ready to go back and bounce and climb some more!




Happy Birthday, Elliott -we had fun at your 2nd birthday party! Thank you for inviting us! (sorry... I don't have a picture of the birthday boy. It is hard to see him in my group picture, too. These 2 year old children move really fast!)


I just had to throw this video in. This was our "at-home" version of Pump It Up before we ever went to it. Something tells me that this just won't do for Allie anymore now that she has had a taste of the luxury bouncy house.