Pump it Up

Last week Andy's rotation doc had a random day off. So, we decided we couldn't waste it. One night of the week there is open play at a local indoor inflatable gym called "Pump it Up." Our friends have gone before but it has never worked out for us to go with them due to our work schedules. The three of us met there after school for some indoor jumping fun!

Marie was very nervous to start...this kind of activity makes Marie very shy and scared unless one of us is right next to her. But, once she sees other kids having fun she usually gets into it. I know she wanted us to get in and help her at first but we tried to stay back and let her figure it out on her own - that was very difficult for me to do. The bigger kids were running around her, she fell down a few times because of the bumpiness, and she was near tears when she saw a big ladder she needed to climb. I wanted to run in and tell her it was ok to not try but we stuck to our guns hoping it would be a big learning experience for her.

Just as she was about to run out, a girl about 8 years old asked her if she needed some help. Marie politely said, "yes" and the girl showed Marie how to climb up and slide down. Marie couldn't have been more proud of herself - it was such an accomplishment for her! I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of her for sticking it out and proud of me for not running in like a mother hen and taking over. (It was a good thing Andy was there...he held me back a few times)

So, even though it was a rocky start, it ended up being such a fun afternoon! She ran around, climbed, jumped, went down enormous slides, and ended up completely exhausted.

(the picture quality is not very good because we forgot our camera at home so we used a phone camera - not very good at the motion shots)