Upsizing

After much discussion and lots of observation, my husband and I made a decision today.   It has been interesting how the trampoline has changed the social dynamics around our house.  And by around, I mean the houses around our house and their children.   We have seen a spike in the number of children who come to our house to play after the installation of the trampoline at Christmas.

This, I am guessing, is not a surprise to most people.   There was one trampoline I had access to when I was a child and It wasn't even close to my house.  We would get on our bikes and travel several blocks to get to the classmate's house with the trampoline.   There were all sorts of people who would come and jump and you never knew who you'd see.   Many of them I knew because back then there weren't as many choices in school so we all went to the same location.  Still, one or two years difference in grade and they might have been from another planet to us at that age.

Still, we had to learn to work together and take turns.   I have nothing but good memories of that trampoline from my childhood.  I am pretty certain we didn't go that often, but when we did, we always had a good time.  When I got older I said someday I would have a trampoline, then, when I became an adult it seemed less interesting.   Now, with children, a trampoline has that almost mystical feel back.  Only this time it's seen through the eyes of my children and their friends.

We seem to be one of the houses where everyone comes to play.   Now that we have a trampoline we seem to be attracting even more children.  Our children are learning how to manage social situations through conflicts and their resolutions.  There have been some difficult times, but that's to be expected.

When my husband and I picked the trampoline out before Christmas, we were concerned with how it would fit in the yard.   We didn't want it to dominate the back yard and prevent it from being used for other things.   Now, after seeing how the trampoline is far more entertaining than the yard has ever been before, we've been rethinking our idea of the size trampoline we purchased.

Yards are great for many activities, but a large portion of them require sight.  Activities with balls are out when you can't see a ball coming at you.   Yards are great for things where you run, only running can be hazardous when you don't know where you're running and you might run into anything and everything.

A trampoline is the opposite.  You step in and zip it up and there is nothing but mat below you and netting around the sides.   It's like a bouncy, padded room minus the pads.   The kind of trampoline we have has no springs and is from the appropriately named company Spring Free.   For my daughter, it's very safe.   She, and all our neighbor children, love it.  My husband is also a crowd favorite, being the "double bounce king."

My husband and I kept looking at the overall jumping area and the number of children in line and we thought about how we were enjoying it as adults and as a family and we both kept saying, "we need a bigger trampoline."   Today we did several things.  First, we contacted our neighbor, who is a local distributor for the trampoline to talk about options.   Second, we went to their showroom and picked out the larger model we wanted and then we got into scheduling.

As luck would have it, they had a cancellation and so they're coming in the morning to install it.   In the meantime, my husband worked with another family in our neighborhood who has a special needs child who was wanting a trampoline.   They're coming tomorrow to get our current one.   Everything worked out better than we could have expected it to.

Everyone is excited, with me being I think the most excited.  Madison said she was the most excited because now she can do a roundoff back handsprings on the trampoline.   My daughter gave a squeal that said she was excited too.   We had eight children jumping today and playing on the playset.   It's a fun back yard.

The Big Boy Update:  My son found the Transformer Rescue Bots this morning.  Before school, he had them all organized on the dining room table with instructions for me not to clean them up.   Tonight he was having battles with them.  Tomorrow he's off school and is going to do more with them before putting them all away, he said.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I told my daughter our current trampoline was going to a special house tomorrow, but that it might make her sad when I told her where.   The family that's buying it is moving from one half of our neighborhood into the other and will be just a few blocks from us.   I told her they're moving into Gaddyn's house and the trampoline is going there.   My daughter looked confused and said, "but Gaddyn already has a trampoline."   I told her I knew she did, but that Gaddyn had moved away to another neighborhood, just weeks ago.  My daughter looked like she was going to cry.   It was a good thing her "boyfriend", Sullivan, who I think is eleven, called her over at that point to sled down the dirt hill in the plastic swimming pool.

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