Tenth Stay-at-Home Day of the Leatherman Christmas

On the tenth stay-at-home day of the Leatherman Christmas, we met Kel Kel and the cousins at Jump Zone for some fun.

Superman Inflatable (Ella still says
"no Supe-man" at random times
today, referring to this thing)

If you've never been to one of these inflatable play centers, you're really not missing out on much.  With all kinds of blow-up bouncers, slides and moonwalks the perfect size for kids under 10 years old, most kids have a lot of fun just running around from one blow-up to the next, constantly moving and without a plan.  For adults, it's usually a 2-hour exercise in standing, watching the same thing over and over again.  If you're lucky, you lose sight of your kid amongst the sea of other similar-sized kids a time or two and, well, freak out.

Me, I just enjoy watching Cal OWN these places.  He attacks every inflatable without fear, climbing high and steep, bounding over and through and hitting the slide hard and fast... and then doing it again and again and again.  He spends little time thinking about he wants to do -- he just does.

Having a birthday party at one of these places has been pretty common amongst the kids in Cal's age group, and that's usually been our reason for going to a Jump Zone or Airtastic; but the Thursday after Christmas we actually CHOSE to go during a special holiday OPEN PLAY window.  We didn't go alone -- we met Aunt Kelly; her kids, Ry Ry, Nora and Fiona; and Dan's brother's kids, Shannon and Erin.

It really was wonderful -- I love seeing the cousins play together.  One thing made it particularly notable in my memory.  Ella just did not want to go on or in or down any of the inflatables.  I don't know if it's because she was afraid, tired or just picky, but she preferred the Little Tykes 3x3x3 plastic house over the humongous inflatables, some even made with the interests of kids her age and size in mind.  Anytime I tried to get her to go on an inflatable to get at least a nickel of our money's worth, she resisted strongly and loudly.  This didn't stop Shannon, the kids' 9-year-old cousin -- with unprecedented enthusiasm and positive thinking, she encouraged Ella to the big slide, fought her resistance and carried her kicking and whining up the steep set of "stairs" (slots) to the top, set her down at the top of the slide and sent Ella down the slide.

It was the last time Ella went down that slide or on any other inflatable... at least that day, it was.