Screaming Kids and a Smart Mom

I am patting myself on the back.  I don't do it very often but today, I deserve it.  After attending one of Breckin's little buddy's birthday party at a local, generic Small People's Gym Class Place, we decided to have Breckin's 5th Birthday Party just like his.  I can bring my over-excited, nearly-fainting-from-anxiety wild man to an air-conditioned, gated facility.  They will provide paper plates, napkins, party bags, and bubbles.  They will also provide a FANTASTIC, energetic, enthusiastic young adult to run my kid ragged while singing as many train songs as the world holds.  He will dump buckets of oddly shaped foam things on their heads, give them drumming sticks to hit on whatever they please, shove them into giant barrels, knock them off of a bouncy air log, encourage them to jump wildly into a pit of inner tubes, and lead them in a parade of idiots.

At one point, I glanced out from my cushy bench to see four boys with bright red faces and soggy hair laughing hysterically at how many times they could fall over, two girls chasing each other over a bridge, a 1 yr old playing basketball, some kid stuck in a stack of innertubes with his legs flailing above him, and a little boy being rolled- much to his delight- inside of a brightly colored barrel like he was going over Niagara.  Ok, there were 2 kids who weren't so sure of this madness and chose to sit quietly and play their DS but, hey, they were 10 and clearly much too cool for this kind of nonsense.  Except when I caught them chasing mini bubbles and flipping on the giant sofa cushiony landing pad.  Mmmm hmmm.  The best part?  The parachute.  Remember when you were a kid and someone hauled out that huge parachute with the handles and the jerk across from you yanked that thing so hard that your arms fell off?  Oh. yeah.  Pile those kids on top, have parents yank that sucker up and down, and the ripples are sure fire giggle-makers. 

Then- because there are no rules- all the kids sit down on the floor.  Quietly.  The first time they were asked.  And given cupcakes and juice/water.  They could make a mess and I didn't have to clean it up.  They could yell as loud as they wanted and they weren't told to quiet down.  They could bang on stuff, jump off stuff, land on their heads, tackle each other, and throw things and it was OK.  It was worth every penny to go to someone else's place and let them go hog wild.  I left with my brain intact, a smile on my face, a tired kid, and happy friends.  Pat pat pat.  Right on my back.  Happy Birthday, Breckin!