You might as well jump (JUMP!)

My little man turned 11 last week, and celebrated with a party this weekend.

When can we jump?!?

The party was at a warehouse filled with trampolines. There was a football-field-sized block of trampolines on one side, and a huge foam pit on the other. Next to the foam pit was a dodge-ball court, where the boys could add a new dimension to an old game.

There was even a set of trampolines for the smaller kids, though the one small kid (my nephew Johnny) ignored it, choosing instead to jump with the big boys.

Like father, like son

The whole thing was hilarious. I watched as Mark and his friends spilled on to the giant block of trampoline squares. They bounced like kangaroos from square to square, occasionally flinging themselves at the walls, which were also covered with trampolines. They bounced off everything they possibly could, including each other, or any unfortunate passersby who happened to get in the way.

My friends kinda dug it, too.

Vic and Monica make like Tigger.

After bouncing their way across the entire floor like a herd of wild kangaroos, the boys hopped back past me, running toward the dodge ball court. This is where I learned the only thing more fun than chucking a dodge ball at someone is chucking it while you're jumping up and down. I watched as Mark and his friends simultaneously jumped and pelted each other with dodge balls, laughing hysterically the entire time.



The last area to conquer was the giant foam pit. The boys lined up and took turns hurling themselves into the pit. They were remarkably agile, ricocheting off the side trampolines, or turning somersaults mid-air. I couldn't believe they ways they could twist and turn their bodies, and I laughed as they sunk into the foam, and then immediately bounded up out of it.

Mark flipped a pretty good somersault.

Jonah got airborne, too!

Halfway through the party, the announcer called the boys in for lunch. They straggled into the party room, red-faced and sweaty, begging for water. They chowed down on pizza and did their best to consume the frozen ice-cream cake, which I forgot to bring out earlier to defrost. When they heard they had only 20 minutes of jump time left, the boys deserted their rock-hard cake and ran back to the trampolines.

The repeat cake. Mark loved the Oreo cake so much on his 6th birthday,
he got it again for his 11th birthday!

When the party ended after two hours, the boys looked exhausted. Mark slept like a log that night.

"That was SOOOO much fun," he said, yawning. "It was my best birthday yet!" He closed his eyes, still smiling, as happy memories of endless jumping filled his sleepy head.

I smiled, too, because what better birthday gift can you give your kid than that?