Jumpoline

Somewhere, Mike's teenage self is alternating between seat drops and belly flops. You see, teenage Mike was ever so jealous of all his friends who had trampolines. And, as of Sunday, not teenage Mike has made the dreams of his three not yet teens come true. We are the proud owners of a trampoline ... or, as Declan calls it, a jumpoline.

At the end of last week, our neighbor Tony called over the fence to ask if we were interested in his trampoline as he was getting ready to sell it. We wandered over there with the kids to test it out and watched them bounce around like crazy people. We probably should have known right then that we would buy it ... but we decided to ruminate on it for a few days before we reached the rather inevitable conclusion.

The trampoline now lives in the backyard and the kids are obsessed. We have to lean a ladder against it for them to get up (short people problems) - and thank goodness that it has the netting, or we would be down one Q (brave middle child reality)! They've been jumping pretty much constantly since we got it. Fiona has mastered the seat drop (drop to butt and back up to feet) and Quinn can jump crazy high. Declan is practicing his bunny hops and feeling braver. They love it when Mike or I (or both) come in and bounce them around. We were all jumping on Monday night and poor Yogi was so jealous; he wanted in too!

Hopefully they still enjoy it when the newness wears off. For now, I'll listen to Mike's thirty-something self groan a little bit. Because when you alternate seat drops and belly flops in real life, you feel it!