Java Gym

Ordinarily I would never think to patronize a place called Java Gym, as I don't drink coffee ... or exercise much, for that matter.  But this place was actually more for the kiddos than it was for me, so my dad and I got the kids out of the house and into the gym.  We had a lot of fun and took lots of pictures!  (Oh, and doesn't Mollie's new haircut look adorable?!)

So, it's basically a giant jungle gym.  And when I say "giant" I mean giant ... it's built so adults can go in it too!  Perfect example here ... there is my 6'3" dad having fun with the kiddos, able to go everywhere they could though not always able to keep up with my Mollie girl.

And it goes really high up, too!

In spite of the height and size of this thing, it seems very well-constructed and very focused on safety.  And, as many of you know I'm sure, kids really like to put that to the test.

There is only one 15-foot section you can exit from; a brilliant idea if you are not in there with your kid, but an infuriating one if you're trying to get an anxious little man out.

There was a lot of this strap netting going on, and it seemed pretty secure ...

... don't you think?

We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately there were a lot of tears as well.  Baylor was pretty nervous about the slides and after being nudged down one by my dad, he wasn't about to go on one again.  Or let anyone else he loves go on one, for that matter.  A couple moments there could have been taken directly out of the part of A Christmas Story when Ralphie goes to visit Santa.  Yikes!

After a while we started a man-to-man coverage of the kids, if you will, with Dad watching after Mollie and Baylor and I hanging together.  All of a sudden, though, I noticed that Dad had two kids with him. As it turns out, this little guy named Aaron decided that Dad was his new best friend and that they should totally hang together.  So they did.

Mollie tore the joint up, climbing everywhere she could and some places she couldn't.

Baylor, as usual, was more cautious and wary of other kids.  So he and I took it slow and just explored.  I tried to get him to go down the slides with me (as they looked like they were a lot of static-y fun), but it was a no-go.

Okay, I'll be honest ... I usually don't have a problem with heights, but this freaked me out something fierce!  Just look at that drop!

We explored every last inch of the place, save for the slides, and went up and down so many times that I was quite sore the next day.  (Maybe I should exercise more often ...)

Eventually Dad and I switched, and I got to hit the orange slide with Mollie.  To be fair, though, I couldn't keep up with her; she zoomed around everywhere she went!

Which is probably why she crashed pretty quickly.  Just look at those tired baby blues!

Oh, and the other bad thing about only having one exit area is that it makes it kind of tough for kids who are still potty training.  Long story short, Baylor had an accident, but luckily he was wearing very absorbent pants and was able to stop himself early enough on.  Unfortunately, his bonehead mom forgot to pack pants for him.  So he had to wear his sister's leggings.  I'm so sorry, kiddo!

Amazingly enough, though, he didn't notice he was wearing them until we got to the car.

And lucky for him, it was time for us to go anyway.  We had a lot of fun, got a lot of big muscle time in, and I'm sure we'll be back there again soon!  And this time, I'll make sure to bring extra BOY pants!