The Bouncy House Hero

Well, my relationship with William was brought to a whole new level today when he came to my rescue in a bouncy house. This morning William and I went over to Bellevue to check out 321 Bounce. I had a Living Social coupon for the place and my sister Carrie highly recommended it! At first glance it seemed like any other warehouse full of bouncy houses (there are a lot of those in the greater Seattle area) but then William went down his first slide of the day and flew down it so fast I thought he'd fly right out the door. 

It reminded me of this:

I asked one of the workers why these particular bouncy houses were so slick. She explained they spray them with some sort of shellac to make them slippery (I wonder if it's Clark W. Griswold's non-nutritive cereal varnish?) so the slides are faster and more fun. William was having a blast slipping down the slides, shrieking with glee, running from one slide to another. Then he decided to try one of the obstacle course houses that rewards with a HUGE slide at the end. Well, a quarter of the way through the obstacle course I could see that he was having trouble and seemed stuck. I wasn't sure if adults were allowed in the houses but he seemed pretty discouraged so I told him I'd come in and help. 

In order to clearly paint a picture of what happened next let me walk you through step by step of what I had to do to get to him.

I had to throw my body up and into a hole to get into the house, then I had to use steps and a rope attached to an inflated mountain to climb up and then slide down to the pit where William was stuck. Keep in mind the 'blocks' or steps attached to one side of the mountain are in no way made for an adults foot (they are miniature) and forget about them actually supporting more than 70lbs. So I basically flip-flopped and floundered my way up the mountain all the while laughing and praying no one was filming me, just to upload to Youtube making me the next internet sensation. Finally I got to the top of the mountain and slid down to William.

William was stuck on the 'squeeze' section, pictured above. The squeeze section required you to jump up onto a smallish mountain, then squeeze through while a tube on top of you pushes down because your weight is forcing it to collapse a bit. Right when I saw it I knew I was in trouble. The smallish mountain came up to my chin, so I'm not sure how any child is supposed to jump high enough to squeeze their way through. I picked William up and pushed him through and then I started trying to get through. As I mentioned before the bouncy houses were slick so it seemed like no matter how high I jumped (and I know I can't jump high) I couldn't find anything to grip onto that would allow me to pull myself through.

After several failed attempts I realized William was long gone and I really began to wonder if I was going to have to be 'that' adult who ruins all the fun for all the kids. I pictured the whole place needing to shut down so they could let the air out of the house just so I could get out. Ha. Ha. Ha. Then I started worrying that William might not know where I was so I started yelling his name. It was pathetic. He eventually came back into the house, and I was able to explain to him that I was going to need his help. I picked him up and pushed him through again and then told him he needed to try and pull me through. After several attempts we finally did it! We were laughing so hard that we both just collapsed on the bouncy house floor and laid there for a second. 

Then William popped up and said, "ok, now follow me!" He scurried and I dragged through some tubes and we finally made it to the big slide. Only problem was there was yet another mountain with tiny miniature steps and ropes to climb before you got to the top. Of course William practically flew to the top, I told him I'd be out in a bit. As I was struggling with my second mountain of the day I saw another mom coming through. I asked her how she fared in the squeeze section, her whacked-out hair and exhausted looking eyes gave me a better answer than any words could have offered.

For the record the slide at the end was spectacular! Fast, fun and totally worth all the work. As I got off the slide William came running back over to me and said, "wanna do it again?" I said, how about next time and then suggested a much easier looking slide!

I'm planning to go back to 321 Bounce during Natalie's week off before Thanksgiving. I figure I'll give the big slide another shot then. :-)