Spring Break: SC Day 3

If you thought today would start off quieter since yesterday was so busy, you'd be wrong. Tenley AND Evie came to play this morning.

Evie had a slight issue at school, so Ka picked her up and she got to join in the fun.

Which seemed to be running around and attacking adults with styrofoam.

Shane shot me right after this pic.

It's not that he hit me, so much as I protected Aunt Dot by absorbing the blow (or so I tell myself).

I mostly stayed on the fringe, but Tenley has an eagle eye.

She saw me taking pictures and charged!

Lots of action and activity from kids makes for a good morning with cousins.

When it quieted down, Carrie offered to scratch something off my vacation to-do list: Play a game!

I picked Fall of Rome, because of the Roman Thermae show we'd been watching. I asked Shane if he wanted to join us, but he preferred his tablet (but sitting at the table with us!).

Carrie and I picked characters to riff off our show and made many bad jokes as we played (We protected Rome from the barbarian hordes for the win!).

Shane's break ended when Nana put him to work making duck treats. 

Afterwards, Shane went off with Nana while Carrie and I went off on our own. I had my first ever poke bowl (it was amazing - like a burrito bowl, but with Asian style cuisine) and then we went to the Verizon store.

It started with a simple request: Carrie wanted to pay off her phone. She hadn't realized there was a $17/month payment going on and she wanted to clean the slate. However, she saw a flip smart phone she liked and started asking questions. 

The sales pitch started and Carrie's interest was piqued when she realized my phone was still (barely) in the top tier for trade-ins. It was pouring rain, so Carrie was in no rush to leave and the more she talked the more I could see the gears of her mind whirling.

I made a request to stop by Barnes and Nobles afterward (No reason - I just like book stores and it was across the street!). We bought a chai to share on the way home and I spotted this abomination.

When we got back to Nana's, Cole was out of school and onto electronics with Shane.

So it was a slower day overall, but it ended with a bang. Kathleen loaded her kids up into her van while Shane and I followed in our car.

We met up at Big Air! Shane put on a show of messing with its mascot.

Originally, Ka was going to take all the kids herself. Carrie would've liked to have kept me home for herself, but I figured I should parent my own child some.

And get lots of pictures.

First off, Big Air is one of the coolest places I've been for kids.

I loved Leaps and Bounds and Discovery Zone as a kid. I guess a giant maze of tubes aren't hygenic anymore (the ball pits certainly weren't even then), because nothing like them exists. 

If Big Air and those places had a baby it would be the coolest place for kids ever.

As is, the amount of stuff at Big Air blows away our local trampoline park. The boys took off on the ninja warrior type obstacles.

Ka stuck with the girls.

They climbing gene is strong in the wee ones!

The plan was to only stay for an hour, but it was a "Buy 1 hour get another free" night. At the rates the kids were burning calories, I wasn't sure if they could last more than an hour!

Cole and Shane ran into the dodgeball room while the girls traversed obstacles. Shane started making weird noises and doing his own mini-game that no one else knew exactly what he was doing or why.

I hadn't paid, but looking at all the obstacles I felt my blood stirring to try out some obstacles...discreetly.

I learned I'm out of shape. 

I didn't have the finger strength to hold myself up on the balls on the side of the beam. I was able to hang on to the bars and traverse across the bottom grips, but my bad shoulder took note and warned me not to push my luck!

Meanwhile, Shane got hurt. He did something weird and 'rolled his ankle' and was acting like he needed an ambulance. I saw it happen and wasn't super sympathetic (but I was a least a little...it did look uncomfortable at least).

Cole got bored and moved on while Shane was 'hurt.'

I did the ole' distraction trick. "Look over there!" I said. "Isn't that awesome! Do you think you could clear it?"

Worked like a charm.

Cole ran over when he saw Shane start something new and any past pains were forgotten.

They took turns jumping and ducking under the obstacle.

It reminded me of the show Wipe Out (That was fun random TV before the streaming era!).

Kathleen and the girls caught up and the whole bunch went into an 'escape room.

There were lasers that the kids were supposed to move around and hit on the walls, but it didn't seem like they were all clear on what was going on.

The girls got bored and came running out to climb the nearest wall.

They tag teamed the obstacles on the wall to hit all the mission objectives. Cole came out and joined them when the round ended.

Shane wanted to give the room another try, though, and Cole decided to reup for another mission with his cuz.

The girls were happier outside.

They tried to run up the warped wall...only to have their mom crush it next to them!

The boys came out and wanted to try, too! Shane got close to getting the middle, but they only managed to conquer the small wall.

I was sorely tempted to give it a run myself. I hadn't paid and I wanted to be honest....and I knew I was in the wrong socks and that I'm old. The thought that I might hurt myself (and I'd probably deserve it) helped me stay honest. I really can't afford to get hurt with as much work as I have on my plate until summer!

Right next to the wall was a riding bull. Naturally, the kids wanted to try it.

Shane was the first up and the first off. He lasted a handful of seconds!

He wasn't happy about it either! The excuse/whine train started before he even got up!

Cole did a lot better. 

He may have done it before, or maybe it was his smaller size and ninja training.

Of course, Ka had to show him up!

She set the record to beat!

She moved on to chase after the girls. Shane tried many, many more times to improve his score.

I'm pretty sure Cole had gotten bored and run off by the time Shane hit his high score (I think it was 18 seconds? Maybe 17?).

Since there was a staff member there, I asked, "Can I try once?" 

I lasted about 16 seconds. Respectable for an old man with the wrong socks, in my opinion! Shane was the cameraman.

Carrie demanded to see the video. She chortled that I "just fell off!" and talked some serious smack about if she'd been there!

The boys found their way to another laser room.

It was even in the name.

I helped them figure out how to set things up and then they were off dodging green beams!

There was a foam pit right outside when they were done.

The ladies met up with us and there was foam pandemonium.

I love that I caught Tenley chucking bricks at people's heads.

Foam pits are cooler than ball pits. That's progress from my childhood!

We started to make our way back up front after that.

I'd used the bathroom and explored a little bit myself. There was a snack area and the prices didn't seem exorbitant.

Shane noticed it, too, and wanted snacks, but I refused. We'd only planned on staying an hour and an hour was already up. 

But the kids were having too much fun to call it quits. 

Shane happily used his size to dominate the joust.

Cole was happy for a fall or two, but everyone moved on from that obstacle quickly!

The next big thing was climbing. The boys wanted to harness up, but there weren't any employees in the area to supervise. I told Shane he'd have to ask someone, and guess what? He did. No hesitation.

I like Big Air's system. There's a pad blocking access. To remove the pad, someone in a harness has to hook up to the safety belay. 

Only then can climbing commence!

To get back down, you let go. You fall at a safe descent.

The only way to unhook yourself is to rehook the blocking pad.

The girls saw the boys having fun and they ran over.

Shane's proof positive that falling is as much fun as climbing when everything is safe!

I feel like this picture captures much of what was going on!

The boys didn't need my supervision with all the safety checks in play.

I took a pic of Kathleen taking a pic for a little inception.

I tried to get some more artsy shots up close and personal, too.

The girls were totally focused on what they were doing. Tenley's normally aware any time I train a camera on her.

It looks easy from the ground, but I knew everyone was burning a wonderful amount of calories having fun.

Shane, the not shy one, didn't hesitate to run up to the register and ask for someone to staff the skywalk upstairs.

He had to wait a little, but Shane and Cole ran upstairs to hook in the moment they were allowed to.

The sky course ran above everything. 

Were you girls looking for Cole? He's somewhere nearby (if you look up!).

There wasn't anything for me to do, but to take pictures and maybe listen to an audiobook!

The girls didn't join the boys, but they figured out where they were soon enough (All of the yelling made it easy!).

Shane tried to spin the roller so that Cole couldn't get across to him at one point, but it didn't matter. Cole could pick up his feet and pull himself across on the pulley if he liked!

Since everything was copacetic, I took a moment to examine the prices for membership. Frankly, it looked like a great deal. Especially if someone decided to homeschool and use Big Air as gym class 2 or 3 times a week!

Meanwhile, Shane and Cole tried to get hypnotized. Shane acted it out.

They were breaking the rules by being on an obstacle simultaneously. A crew member noticed and called out to the guy up there to do his job! Whoops!

Shane and Cole got back in line. They played for a few minutes more before they decided they'd seen, done, and been hypnotized by everything they were interested in.

There was just enough time to run through some obstacles one final time.

These are the activities that great memories are made of.

And great pictures, too (I took a lot of them...and Ka took more, but I already had so many of my own!).

To my surprise, we ended up staying right until closing. What was supposed to be an hour of fun had become two.

We said our goodbyes in the parking lot before heading out separate ways. Shane officially had all three of his wishes crossed off his vacation bucket list! It was yet another great day of Spring Break.