August 13 Aidan's sleepover

Wednesday:  I picked Aidan up today at 2:30. When I asked what he would like to do today, he never even hesitated to say it MUST be Altitude! So we drove over there immediately. I registered Aidan, and since we already had the "approved" socks, Aidan was off and ... jumping!

It's been awhile since Aidan has been here to jump--so this was kind of a nice treat for him. AND it was NOT crowded at all!

Aidan has grown up so much this year. He has a very determined mind (along with it being excessively bright) and can figure things out for himself most of the time. I told him today that I find he is very "resourceful" and that this is a good quality to have!

For not having been here in probably more than a year, Aidan demonstrated that he was a very good and quite fearless jumper.

Aidan played a little bit of dodge ball ... but there weren't too many kids in the arena to make it much fun.

Aidan laid eyes on this new piece of equipment and I saw him hesitate--he looked it over and walked away the first few times. But then a few kids got on it and jumped and he saw that it wasn't as dangerous as it appeared! Aidan is very logical (most of the time) and quite cautious. He truly doesn't do foolish physical things. Soon, though, he climbed the stairs and ...

JUMPED off! Look at him!

The landing site is a nice, SOFT, HUGE, pillow that sinks way down when you plop there.

Altitude is a very nice indoor playground. The owners take very good care of it. Most of the workers are friendly and careful.

This "low" wall is harder than it looks to reach and land upon. However, if you've jumped here on a regular basis, you figure out HOW to get up onto it one way or the other. Kaity just flies up to this wall like it's a hop, skip and a very easy jump--effortless. Aidan is quite a bit younger and smaller--so it was more of a challenge. He finally maneuvered his way up by hanging on to the side and climbing with his feet straight up the side! He was NOT going to give up until he made it onto the wall! Good for you, Aidan Paul!

 We played a game of Air Hockey (which I mistakenly called "Ice" hockey, precipitating hoots of laughter from Aidan--hey! a logical error made by an old lady should NOT be mocked!). I won the only game of it that we played. It's quite fun actually. The hockey puck zooms over the surface super fast!

We had only signed up for an hour at Altitude, but the workers never called for Aidan's wrist band, so I think he jumped close to 90 minutes (just like Brendan two weeks ago). We left Altitude without them ever telling us our time was up--but Aidan had jumped himself all sweaty, and we were both hungry--so we left and drove to my house where we ate dinner and then played a few games.

Aidan plays a very decent game of Chess. I beat him, but he makes it a real challenge for me--however, I admit I am not the greatest at Chess. However, I think Aidan will only get better and better.

While I was getting our dinner together, Aidan worked on some graft paper art. He decided to draw a pixel wolf we found on a site on YouTube. He worked diligently on it while I was in the kitchen.

When it was movie time, Aidan suggested we see Home Alone 2; and since I own that movie, it was easy to accommodate! We laughed at all of the usual hilarious places--and it was GOOD to laugh with Aidan. You see, Aidan is a very ... very ... intense person. He has a lot running around in his brain and he is super smart. SO ... he looks around and sees what he thinks ought to be happening and if it isn't, he takes charge and bosses everyone around until it is happening how he thinks it ought to be. Well ... that's not exactly what happens, but you get the gist of it anyway. Aidan is also quite responsible for his age. He looks out for danger, for potential mess-ups, etc. and sends out cautionary messages to those involved. It's actually quite extraordinary for some one of his age. He has an uncle, who is very dear to my heart, who was a LOT like this at this very age. Aidan has a "person in charge" kind of personality. He is not at all passive. This has a lot of positives and some negatives; especially if you are his parent, I think. 

Anyway, I popped Aidan some popcorn and let him drink an entire huge canister of MUG root beer as we watched the movie. We had such a nice time. Bedtime came at about 9:30 and it was no problem at all. Surprisingly, Aidan slept on the bottom bunk! It was a little bit HOT in the spare bedroom, so I moved the window fan from the front room into his bedroom, which really cooled it down nicely. 

We plan to go to Deer Tracks tomorrow ...