Bouncy goodness

Today, we had N's birthday party! It was fun! (Her actual birthday is still a few days from now.)

Usually, I do smallish parties at our house with a few friends. Even though the parties are "small affairs," I usually end up stressing myself out cleaning, cooking, baking, running around the entire party doing domestic kinds of things and not having very much fun.


For this party, since we just moved, I decided to do something different. I decided to have it somewhere else. We went to Pump it Up! I booked in October and it was impossible to get a weekend date. Note to self, book earlier to get a weekend.

I decided to do Pump it Up because a friend had had a party there and it was 1) very clean, 2) well organized, 3) the kids, even though they are running around are kind of all together because of the way the place is set-up. (At places like the kid's museum or Chuck E. Cheese, the kids all kind of scatter and are only together during the cake.)

At Pump it Up, you start in one room and play with JUST your friends for 40 minutes, then move to a second room with your friends and play on different bouncy / jumpy slides and houses for another 40 minutes. The last 40 minutes is in the "party room" and you have drinks, pizza and cake. After 80 minutes of bouncing you have VERY HUNGRY KIDS.

We jumped. We bounced. We loved it! 3 or 4 of the other parents were doing lots of jumping and bouncing too. The kids loved it too. (Heh.) At the end, N was really tired and got grumpy and started crying. I felt bad and we said, "It's her party and she can cry if she wants to." I'm not surprised she was crying and tired. She was so excited that she didn't fall asleep last night until about 11 pm and then she bounced out of bed at 8 am in anticipation! Because she was up so early, she and I went out to buy cupcake ingredients and then baked them. That was fun too.

(Tangent: N and I got to a grocery store before 9 am. The store wasn't open. I have NEVER IN MY LIFE gotten to a store that early in the morning. Since I'm not a morning person, I didn't know it was possible to get somewhere before it opened. Wowza. You learn something new every day.)

Most likely more soon about the party.... Now I'm tired. Must sleep.