Claire is (almost) eight years old!

This year Claire had her birthday party with her friends at Jumpoline Park.  Initially Claire had talked about having a petty zoo come to our house.  Once we expressed some concern about where to put the animals, weather, and other practicalities, Claire immediately said, “That’s easy.  We’ll do it at Jumpoline Park.”

And so we had her birthday at the perennially favorite spot, the largest and greatest indoor trampoline you can imagine.  The kids had a great time.  The girls were still young enough that they wanted us parents out there playing with them.  It was myself and Cullen, the dad of Claire’s friend Maddie, who took on the important duty of “bouncing” the kids.  This involved the girls laying all around a parent on the trampoline, then the parent jumping up and down as high as possible, trying to bounce the kids up as much as possible. This was tiring work, and soon sweat was dripping from my brow.  The kids also liked to be chased across the trampoline, and some were quite good at taunting.  I required many breaks to avoid collapsing in exhaustion.

This year, Claire knew ahead of time what some of the kids were going to give her for presents.  They basically just told her at school ahead of time.  The two big must-have items this year were My Little Pony stuff and a Rainbow Loom.  Claire adores My Little Pony and wants to know who your favorite characters are (Rainbow Dash and Pinky Pie of course, and Apple Jack is great but under appreciated).  Some of the other kids at school think My Little Pony is babyish, but Claire stands her ground.  She just loves that cute little ponies.  The other big item was a  Rainbow Loom, a rubber-band loom that is super popular at school.  Claire got to take hers to school and use it on the playground and the bus, like her friends.