The Bounce House – Torture Device For Parents

If you have children under the age of 5 you more than likely already know what a bounce house is.  If not, I’m here to tell you.  It’s an inflatable house, palace, maze, etc. that your child goes into for what seems like hours on end, bounces around and has a damn fine time doing it.  Remember, children have infinitely more energy than you do.

Anyhow, G got invited to a birthday party for one of his friends and it was held at a bounce house place called Pump It Up which calls itself, “The Inflatable Party Zone”.  There were quite a few contraptions for the kids to play on.

1. A large enclosed room with a large beanbag type thing in the middle.  We’ll call this one the “trampoline room”.  This was great.  Not only did G get in there but C even was able to get in on the action.  They both had a BLAST!  Definitely the tamest of the bunch.
2. Two large slides with a “ladder” up the middle.  Climb up the ladder and slide down.  Seems pretty tame and if it was just G involved it would have been… however my “little man” C decided that he wanted to get involved in this.  So, I had to carry him up the ladder and slide down with him… 2,000 times.  Now I don’t know about you but carrying a 30 lb child while hunched over so you can scale an inflatable ladder is not my idea of fun.
3. The Maze – by the time my day was over I was calling this “inflatable death”.  You enter through a hole that’s small for a 3 year old (bumping your self esteem through the roof).  Then you have to go down, up and over a small “wall” that gives you access to a series of inflatable “stakes” that you must maneuver around (all the while on your hands and knees cause this is of course made for a child).  Once through that, you go through a 4 foot high passageway which leads to a 90 degree angle steep wall which you have to scale before you’re allowed to slide to the end.

Bitterness Over the Bounce House?

If it sounds like I’m bitter I’m not… we had a great time and the boys had an even better time.  I’ve always been a “sweater” and this day was no exception.  After one trip into the trampoline room I was dripping wet and it only got worse from there.  I do have to say that I really got a kick out of watching my boys enjoy themselves.  They’re at an age now (especially G) where they’re getting a bit more independent and I get to sit back and watch them turn into little men… love it.

Note: Brian (the host dad) and I were talking about how Pump It Up offers adult parties at their location.  Unfortunately you’re not allowed to have alcohol at these parties.  So here’s what we’ve got… a party that you can’t drink at where you’re going to be sweating your balls off and your back’s going to feel like someone played pinata with it when you wake up. Sign me up!