"Sometimes, I'm So Embarrassed to Look Like You"

That was the quote of the day - used by Michele, when she was mortified by viewing my dancing skills to a Michael Jackson song played overhead. I used it in reference to her a couple times too....

You know how there are events that you plan and anticipate and hope that they end up as memorable as you want them to be? Then, there are other days - like today - when something random develops and at the end of the day you realize this will be one of those days that you'll refer back to as "the good ol' days" - or even a "remember when" day.

To back up a bit - both Michele and I's kids had the day off today. Our district does this silly Friday off prior to the last week of school - and Michele's district actually shaved off the last three days of school due to budget cuts. So, because we were already together due to Ellie's birthday party, Michele and I tried to brainstorm doing something with the kiddos that would be advantageous to do when the rest of the state is still in school.

We considered doing another swim session at a new pool in Salem, but given we swam the night before, we opted against that. We considered some inflatable bounce houses, but the times and age restrictions were working against us. So, we finally settled on "Safari Sam's" in Sherwood - home of the biggest indoor play structure (jungle gym) in the state.

We really had no idea what we were getting into, but we were game for the adventure. It turned out to be a blast!

This is just one side of the mammoth structure - there were rope swings, a mini-zipline, lots of nets to crawl up and down, and tons of foam obstacles to maneuver under, over, and through. We also scored a table in the middle of it all - usually designated for "parties" - but given there were 7 of us, and it was Ellie's actual birthday, we felt justified when one of the employees offered it to us.

We stayed for nearly 4 hours - and even then, the majority would have opted to stay longer. For older kids, there was a "blue diamond" course - which sports a huge block that you have to get over to be able to do it. It was very fun, but a bit challenging - we cheated by hanging on the netting at different points.



Only adults are allowed to wear tennies - I'm so glad I went back and put mine on as the rope netting on just "socked" feet made them quite sore. Having traction was also of huge help getting up this wall with the rope - I felt like such a dumb-dumb trying it before, even one of the gentleman employees was telling me what I was doing wrong. I ended up falling right after he told me - and was so glad he'd moved on and didn't see me laughing my tail off laying on the mat.


In addition to all the fun - Safari Sam's also supplied great food. They had a cute little thatched restaurant serving homemade pizza and kid-friendly food - and refillable drinks which was a great thing, as we all worked up quite an appetite.

I doubt that we worked off enough calories to compensate for these, though....but hey, a birthday is a worthy reason to celebrate, right?

This final pic has nothing to do with Safari Sam's - but I snapped a picture of what I did to Michele's hair this morning - I did a braid all the way around her head, so it made its own headband. I'm no salon stylist, but I thought it turned out pretty cute. Too bad there's no way I could pull it off on my own head......