Have you ever been to a trampoline park? Urban Air, a franchise, is located mostly in the South around Texas, but there are a couple in the North East as well. I have been wanting to take Avery for a while, but was not sure how she’d take being on a trampoline.
My hesitation only grew when she wanted nothing to do with our friend’s trampoline last week. We figured it was due to being above ground as she freezes up on above-ground things like playground equipment and, well, trampolines.
On top of that, she’s been fighting a cold, so I was pretty sure the trampoline park was a no go this week. But, it was right next to Costco where I just so happened to be, and it was before noon on Wednesday which is when Urban Air has their Jumperoo time where ages 5 and under are only $5 and parents are free. Score!
Despite her runny nose and unpredictable temper (isn’t that toddlers in general?), I decided on giving our first visit to the park a try. Avery was almost the youngest kid there with the majority of jumperoos around the age of 4 and filled with energy. I brought her to the main area filled with sectional trampolines all interconnected for plenty of jumping action. But Avery, she just looked at me with a hesitant but cute smile.
I urged her to jump just like the numerous kids surrounding her, and even carried her to the middle hoping she’d catch on. Instead, she scooted on her but like a dog with worms before flipping over to bear crawl.
She did this until making her way back to safety, the stable orange area.
After watching others jump all around her, I thought she might be ready to make the plunge into the black, so I prepared my phone’s video camera.
Technically, she jumped, but I’m sure her butt would’ve appreciated a softer, more pliable surface. Oh, maybe like the trampolines all around her! At least she has the padding from her cloth diapers to help soften the blow. Finally, I think I caught the moment she realized what was expected of her after staring off at a group of 4 year old kids wrestling each other for a ball.
It was right after this picture, when I tried the video again. This time, it was Instagram-worthy. At least to the biased parent such as myself. 🙂
That’s more like it, now we were having fun! Her next order of business was chasing down that ball all of the other, bigger, kids were playing with. Only problem was, they really didn’t want to give it up to some “baby” as they called her.
Her first attempt to nonchalantly grab the ball when it was loose quickly failed as some boy ran up to grab it away. Silly boy, you simply DO NOT take balls from Avery!
Guess all of that working out with Mommy and Daddy is paying off! The boy’s mom told me to get on to him if was being too rough with Avery, but I never had to, she took care of it herself. Speaking of rough, I thought this brother-sister duo playing crack the egg with Avery (without Avery knowing) would be too much, but she just smiled and laughed as her body flopped like a fish out of water.
I’m positive that if it were me making her bounce like that, she’d be wailing as if I just broke her arm in half, but other kids doing it, no problem. She carried on jumping, doing butt busters, and chasing the ball around all over.
Feeling like we made great progress with her jumping on the trampoline, I thought I’d introduce the awesome foam pit! Seriously, trampolines lined up for you to jump on and launch yourself into a giant pit of foam; what’s not to like? I think Avery has the answer….
That was the first and last of the foam pit for the day. Maybe next time….or the time after that. Noon was fast approaching which meant toddler time was over, so after a few more jumps and ball chases, it was time to go. Surprisingly, Avery just said “bye-bye” without a bit of a fuss.
Once home, there was just enough time to watch a little Sid the Science Kid as she had lunch before a much needed nap was attempted. Her cold symptoms somehow reappeared and turned her into a little fuss monster. They may be little, but toddler fuss monsters are a force to reckon with!
With her belly full, teeth brushed, and story-time done, I put her down for a nap. Surely after all of that jumping and still fighting a cold she’d quickly fall asleep. Or so I thought; I guess the carryover effect from jumping on the trampolines was too intense. She was doing butt busters in her crib which is far from napping.
Can’t blame her, jumping is fun! Finally, she tired out and as quick as you can snap your fingers, she was out.
All for a good 30 minutes instead of the 1.5 to 2 hours she normally gets. Apparently that’s all she needed because she was a bundle of energy the rest of the day and again when in her crib. I’m glad she’s healthy enough for all of the activity, but geez, calm down Avery!
So that was our first but definitely not our last time at a trampoline park. I’m hoping to make it a meet-up with our Dallas Dads Group next time since I haven’t seen those guys in a while.
Have you ever been to Urban Air or similar park?
Do you love trampolines? What about your kids?