Bounce House & Axe Throwing

Hey, I'm on a roll! Two days in a row! Guess what we did today!!? I took 7 kids out and we went and spent 90 minutes at a bounce house, which is a normal thing we've done before with the kids, but then afterward we went axe throwing, and I thought that was a pretty good cherry on top! So I didn't mention this yesterday, but we were able to get into Cowabunga bay with the Get Out Passes that I bought for our family last week. Today I took Wes to his Little Big Band rehearsal in American Fork, as I do on most Wednesdays. But instead of just doing a Costco run, I decided I'd take the kids and we'd try out one of the other Get Out Pass activities. We drove 9 minutes to a Bounce House in Orem. We can go here weekly, cool - I might have a new place to go with the toddlers. I enjoy my Costco runs, but I like getting the kids out of the house more, and this might now be the ideal time for that. So we found it, it was crazy hot, we hurried in, and the kids took off, except for Owen. It looked like any other kid bounce house in a lot of ways (aka kinda dirty and grimey) and 3 of the 4 fake palm trees below on the main slide needs some repair attention, lol, but not a big deal, especially cause it seems like we're basically getting in here for free.

Owen wouldn't take off his shoes at first. He didn't want to go in. I think this big black dragon that you could see from the entrance door and that was flapping its wings might have had something to do with that. 

I finally had to pick him up and carry him in. Lucky for me, there was a comfy couch to sit on, yay. He finally got down and looked at some toys in a display case. They looked like just a bunch of old used toys collected from a thrifts store or the DI. Owen wanted the dark green car

I asked the guy at the desk if the toys were for play. He said no, those were prizes for birthday groups. I thought that was weird. So, sorry buddy, no car. But you take your time to warm up to this new environment. He's a funny kid, I need to remember that he takes things at his own pace. See him front and center in the first picture? While his younger brother Daniel went willingly down the big slide with the big sisters... 

Owen would not go on the slides or do anything except play with the baby toys. 

Silly kid. Daniel had a blast, the girls were all off and exploring the area. 

They had a climbing wall with a big foam pit below it. If you reached the top and rang the bell, you got a little treat, like a small box of Nerds candy or small package of Swedish Fish. Abi and Lily climbed that a few times and earned a few treats. Sophi tried...

But couldn't do it up the middle of the wall to reach the high bell.

There was lower bell on the other lower climbing wall that she was able to reach though and she got some candy too. Good job. I really liked that they were being active and having fun climbing and it was safe! Not like the climbing wall at the school park where Daniel can't get up and I can't help him get up and he gets frustrated. There were activities for all levels here. After climbing the wall a few times, Abi and Lily spent a good chunk of time trying to cross the slac line. 

They never made it across, but I think it's opening up an idea for the two of them of a new goal to shoot for. Daniel discovered the balloon room! 

Earlier as I tried to get Owen's attention away from the glass case of cheap toys, I tried to show him the balloons, but he wasn't interested.

He played it safe in a toy boat instead.

Hey Owen, are you sure you don't want to go back there with Daniel? I think he's really having a fun time! You might like it! Do you want to try it?

I love his eye roll and sigh at 1:23 - it's like he kinda wants to go and experience the rush that such risk would bring, but he is resigned to his desk job. He has a stuffed lion back at home to think off and provide for. He just doesn't have the courage...

...or does he?

Owen, you're doing it! 60 minutes to warm up to the idea, and sure it's about time to leave now, but good job buddy!

Oh yeah! The thill of adventure! You did it Owen! You're living life! And part 2 here - just another video of more balloon heaven. It was a fun afternoon. So we left there a few minutes too late and Wes had to wait for us in the hot sun for 5 minutes. It was 100 degrees, so after getting Wes, I somewhat reluctantly bought them all frostys at Wendys. Then I said I wanted to just swing by this axe thowing place and check it out. Just so happened that no one else was there, and so I signed the waiver and we all went in. 12 years old and older can throw axes, 11 and under can do Chinese stars. A quick lesson - we did the toddlers first -

Yes, Natalie, this is your chance. Go ahead and throw that sharp metal object. 

So the little girls were practicing with the Chinese stars, toddlers were being good for the moment...

Oop, moments over.

Wes learned proper axe throwing technique. He got a bulls eye on his first throw.

Victory photo -

His second throw hit too, on the target above the first.

Ok, this boy might be a natural. As Corey said later "Don't upset that kid!" The toddlers were getting better with the stars - Natalie made two stick!

Abi got three -

Lily's got three there, one of them was a lucky fall into the top of the yellow target, you can barely see that one.

Our teacher Caleb chalenged Wes to hit all four in the same target. He got 3 a few times... one of them would fall out as the others hit the target. So you had to throw them in hard enough that they wouldn't get loose as the others hit. Wes finally got all 4!

Owen was content with his blanket and lion.

Daniel wanted the stars though. I didn't get a lot of throws in cause I was making sure Daniel didn't get in the way of any flying objects. It was fun though. And this one is a weekly pass too - 30 minutes a week, so I told Wes I'm open to coming here after band. It's like 2 minutes away from the soundhouse, lucky boy! And now he's nagging me for an axe so he can go practice at the tree farm. He's never had so much fun, he loves axe throwing. There's another axe throwing place up closer to home in Murray, we'll go check that one out soon. It was another fun day, and I'm feeling like a rock star mom. It's fun to be up and doing. I'm going to enjoy it during this second trimester while it lasts.