Houston, We Have Lift-off Bounce-off

All I can say is, "I never really intended this." But sometimes, fun just bounces into your life.

See, a neighbour mentioned to me, when I was working on her computer one night, that she rented a "bouncy castle" for her child's birthday party. Four hours of bouncing, for about the price of a 'birthday party package' at the movie theatre, or the swimming pool, or somewhere like that. She gave me their number.

Sounded like a good idea. So I called the bouncy castle people. And we booked a day.

When the day arrived... now, keep in mind that we're in Nova Scotia....

It rained.

(You can't do it when it rains.)

So we rebooked another day.

Then on that day....

It rained. AGAIN.

Starting to see a pattern? We wondered if it would *ever* happen. So we went ahead and had an indoor party for the little boy without the bouncy castle. Remember that day?

Cut to three days ago. We were in a store (we really need to stay *out* of those places). We saw... a bouncer. One you buy and set up yourself.

Hmm.

It wasn't cheap. But it *was* less than twice what it would have cost to rent one for four hours. Economies of scale bounced through my mind. (Bounced, get it?)

We pondered for a day.

Then we went and bought it.

I set it up and inflated it when the three little kids were away. It looked pretty good. I resisted bouncing on it myself. With difficulty. Darn. But it's designed for kids. And it would have been pretty hard to explain how I destroyed the kids' bouncer before they ever got to try it. So I packed it back up. (It can't stay up when it's not in use... but it is *really* easy to set up... thankfully.)

Today, I went and picked up the kids from their mini-vacation with Grandma and Grandpa. We dropped by the hospital on the way home, so the kids could see Mom, since she would be working until midnight. Mom and I told them we got them a bouncer. Even then, without knowing anything about it, they were pretty stoked.

When we arrived at home and set it up, it would be fair to say that they lost their little minds.

Check this out:







Looks like fun, doesn't it?

So it's all worth it. Because bouncing is so much fun.

Unless, of course, it's your cheques that are doing the bouncing. Which, thanks to this purchase, is a sad but distinct possibility around here for the next week or so.