Jen's Column / House of Bounce

I picked up my boys at the bus the other day and said, "I have a surprise for you!"
They worked themselves into a frenzy trying to figure out what it was.

"I think I know!" Christian said. "Bowling!"

"No," I answered.

"Ice cream!" said Bergen.

"No."

"A movie?"

"No."

They were out of ideas by the time we pulled up to our destination. "Wait a minute," they said, full of suspicion. "Are you making us go shopping?"

"You'll see…" I said. And then they saw, through the front window, what was in store.

"Bergen!" my oldest yelled. "It's 100 bouncy castles!"

That's not quite true… but he was close. We were at House of Bounce — Rochester's newest indoor playground and veritable warehouse of giant, inflatable toys.

We didn't know what to do first. I dove into this cool obstacle course, maze-like thing and hollered for the kids to follow. But Bergen was already climbing the giant slide while Christian was eyeing a baseball game in which the ball floats in mid-air until you hit it. Ten minutes in, it was clear to me that not only was I getting a pretty good workout, but the kids were going to be completely wiped out by the time we got home. (Bonus!)

My boys and I tried everything. We raced through the "Ultimate Module Challenge," stumbling up ladders and flying down slides. We put on harnesses and tried running down the long, springy path of the Bungee Run before being pulled back to the beginning by the elastic ropes. Christian played air hockey with one of the staff members while Bergen and I sped down a steep slide behind them.

Now, I consider myself fairly fit. But, I tell you, this place wiped me out. Heart pounding, lungs puffing, wiped out. I mean, there's a lot of climbing involved. (You have to get to the top of those slides somehow, right?) And rolling around. And crawling. And dancing. (Except I may have been the only one dancing. But what else are you going to do when "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "I'm Walking on Sunshine" is being piped in over the speakers one after the other?)

Clearly, I wasn't the only one feeling the exhaustion. On more than one occasion, I had to step around children who were sprawled out flat on the floor. (If House of Bounce decides to do any television advertising, images like this would really be their best bet.)

One of my favorite inflatables was the Ninja Jump — a kind of boxing ring with a raised, gladiator-style platform in the middle. Bergen wasn't so sure about this one, so I went in with Christian. We put on the head protection and grabbed the gigantic boxing gloves.

"Ready?" I asked Christian, facing him on the platform.

"Bring it on, Grandma!" he hollered.

Of course, I had planned to take it easy on him. But when I went in for a tap, he got me with a right that sent me tumbling off the platform and onto the ground. So of course I had to get him back.

Come to think of it, it would be kind of nice to have the Ninja Jump in my backyard. Whenever the boys start fighting, I could say, "Go in the backyard and beat each other up until you feel better." It would probably be met with more acceptance than my current directive to "hug and say 'I love you.'"

As we were packing up to leave, another family was just getting settled. "This is so fun!" I heard the mom say. "It's like being a little kid again!"

It is. According to the brochure, House of Bounce has a parents' lounge with free WIFI access. But really. Why would you want to use it?