Paradise Pond

I joined the GCS (Grapevine/Colleyville/Southlake) Mom's League a few weeks ago and was invited to join a Friday playgroup whose kids were all born in 2007. Two of the mothers are pregnant with their second so it's a good fit for us. I've really enjoyed meeting and talking to the other mothers in this group and look forward to getting to know them better. We've only made it to 2 playdates so far, both at a place called Paradise Pond. We love this place!!! Let me tell you why...

1) It's indoors (it's over 100 degrees everyday here people. We don't go outside anymore unless it's 8 am or earlier)
2) It's got little play areas with all kinds of themes. One play area is all cars and trucks, one is a grocery store, one is all legos, one has dinasours, there is a dress up room with all kinds of costumes and play clothes, they have a baby roller coaster, jumpy house AND a large climbing structure. There's even more stuff I'm not thinking of right now!
3) It's clean (which is more than I can say for a lot of indoor playgrounds)
4) It's open from 9 am - 11 am. Perfect timing for Jacob and I as we are up at 6:30 am and he naps at noon. After playing here, he is totally ready for his nap b/c he is exhausted!
5) It's $1.00 per person (ONE dollar!!! In San Francisco, this place would have cost us $10 each!)

Anyway, our playgroup met there yesterday and since Grandpa was here, he tagged along. The unfortunate part about the large climbing structure is that there is one particular place where Jacob gets stuck and can't continue to climb. A couple of weeks ago, I had to ask other older kids to help him up and one time, had to go in and rescue him myself. But once he got to the top, he would slide down the large, windy slide by himself without any problems.

Yesterday, for some reason, he was scared to go down the slide alone. Let me tell you, this slide is FAST. It's a large tube that winds around in circles and at the very end, it's raised about 2 feet off the ground. Kids come flying out of that thing at outrageous speeds and their butts land right on the mat underneath with a big SMACK! I don't blame him for being scared -- even if he did do it by himself a couple of weeks ago. Jacob would get to the top and then start climbing down by himself, crying the whole time b/c he REALLY wanted to go but was scared. Grandpa decided to help Jacob up the climbing structure and go down the slide with him. I was waiting at the bottom and I told one of the moms next to me that I was "more worried about my 63 year old Dad coming down that thing than I was for my 2 year old son." Sure enough, seconds later, they both come FLYING out of that hole and my Dad lands right on his butt and bounces with Jacob in his arms. You should have seen their faces. I literally fell over on the ground and was laughing so hard I couldn't control myself. Tears were pouring out of my eyes. Jacob LOVED it. He jumped up immediately and ran on to something else while I was on the ground laughing, not able to give my Dad a hand up. Poor Grandpa. You better believe they didn't go up there again.

Thanks for the laugh Dad. I'm still cracking up every time I think about it. He said to me "You need to send me those pictures." I said "Are you kidding me?! This one's for the blog!!!"

Jacob playing with the dinosaurs:



Coming down the bouncy house slide:



He's hasn't quite caught on to sitting on the bike and pedaling -- so he pushes it instead:



How sweet is this face?!



Grandpa and Jacob starting the climb:



Up and up and up...



This is where Jacob gets stuck and needs help getting up. I told you this thing was big!



Landing on their butts -- their faces were priceless!