today's birthday party

Remember when a birthday party was a few friends, cake and ice cream, and everybody left not long after the ice cream was gone?  Or maybe your grandparents made a visit from a few miles away and their focus was primarily to visit with your parents?

More changes . . .  I got a call about a week ago from my son-in-law who had a load of 8 boys including my now 11-year-old grandson, who would soon be passing through town.  They had been jumping and bouncing for 2 or 3 hours in Oakdale, MN at JumpUppity, where kids can thrive in Jump Up Heaven.  (Or if you need corporate team-building you can bring in that "team" in need of liking each other, and turn your corporate world around.)

Brett and his buddies had slowed down very little by the time they made it to our house, where his Dad served ice cream with chocolate syrup.  And talk about a high level of noise and energy!  We old folks aren't used to that, for sure.  It's comical to watch them racing to and fro, upstairs and down, for no particular reason other than being somewhere else is better than being here.

That's our world today.  Here in Hudson we have the Giggle Factory, operating under the same premise. We use it for those rainy days when the grandsons are here and sanity is preferred. Though we haven't done a birthday party, the Giggle Factory is also set up for it.  You just bring the kids.

To their mind, we should go there every day, but honestly the shrieking is just about more than a person can handle, so we prefer the outdoor "Castle Park" with lots of swings, rope ladders, stairs, poles, horns, bells, and parents/grandparents happy to have a super place for the kids - for free.

So when your grand kids had their party, in Mason City, Des Moines, Chicago, or wherever, I'd guess you've seen the same thing.  Boundless joy, but it seems as if they never really wear out.  Like I would.