Gaby turned 4 years old last Saturday. We had her party at Pump It Up. If you don't have young children then you probably don't know about pump it. Let me tell you, it is something else! I think the best words to describe it are "kids birthday factory". It is a national franchise, with over 175 locations according to the website.
If the San Francisco location is any indication, they are all in the low-rent districts generally reserved for light industrial work. The place is surrounded by loading docks and light rail lines. The building itself looks like a former warehouse and it's a good thing too, because without all that room, where would they put all of the inflatable jumpy houses, inflatable slides, inflatable obstacle courses and inflatable basketball courts (yes you read that right).
Despite the wrong side of the tracks location, the place is amazing, and Gaby absolutely loved every minute of it. She greeted guests at the door (about 30 kids), fidgeted through through the mandatory safety video, jumped around on every single inflatable thing that she could find, and then retired to the party room. There, she took the seat of honor on top of a 6 foot tall inflatable throne, ate pizza and fruit and then got to blow out the candles and eat cake. She even let her older sister sit with her on the throne.
She behaved herself so incredibly well. She never melted down or whined or complained about anything that I can recall. She was happy to see all her friends and I think most of them found her enthusiasm infectious. I was very proud to be her daddy.
I had a great time jumping around with the kids and I noticed several other adults in the play structures with me. Not a bad thing :) I think the pictures probably tell a better story than I could.
