The Neighborhood Now Knows We Are Here

We set up the trampoline and the pool tonight. And as you know, kids can't play in water or jump on the trampoline without screaming laughter and yelling. Especially my kids. I think I have the loudest kids. So now I am sure that the neighborhood is well aware that this house, which has been empty for 6 or 7 months, is now occupied. (Some probably observed the kid toys in the front yard, but for the rest of them, Here We Are!...)



A few pictures.


They did not bother to get their swim suits on.

We don't have grass back there, but lots of cement! We have grass in the front. I feel bad that I don't seem to take pictures of my older boys much. I should have gotten some pictures of Brennen and Scott setting up the tramp. Then I could have posted it with the one when Brennen was helping Scott set up the trampoline when we first got it when he was 4 years old. So cute. He has always like to put things together.

We don't have the net on yet, so they can only jump one at a time right now. If you know Andy, then you understand.

I suppose I will tell you why I LOVE the trampoline. I realize that trampolines are not the safest toy around, but we have been lucky. (knock on wood). My oldest son Dustin is a video game junkie, and TV and computer. Not so much now, but when he was younger, he could sit on the couch all day and watch TV or play Ninetendo. So for him, the trampoline was wonderful! It got him outside. A few weeks ago his friend Ricky was over and they were jumping on the tramp. They have been friends since they were 7. (They are now 15). I was watching out the kitchen window remembering those cute little boys and thinking how it was just like old times. Then I looked again and they were jumping, yes, but both staring at their cell phones. Okay. Not quite the same.

Anyway, my next son did not watch TV or play video games much when he was younger. He was a mover, liked real action. The trampoline was great for him because he liked and needed physical activity.

Andy is always on the go and doesn't slow down. I prefer him jumping on the trampoline to jumping on the furniture. He has so much energy the trampoline helps take some of it from him. Last year on the first day of school he was so excited and ready early and his brothers already left, and when can he go, etc. I finally sent him outside to jump on the tramp.

My last two kids love it also. I don't know what I would do without the trampoline.

One game that has been passed down from Dustin and his friends is that the kids gather as many balls as they can and put them on the trampoline and jump with them. If you get hit by a ball three times, you are out.

The favorite thing, of course, is to turn on the sprinkler under it. I don't know how much money I may have saved over the summers without wet and wild trampoline fun, but it has made me a happier mommy for sure! And you can't put a price on sanity.