Our 5 Best Trampoline Park Inventions

Sloan has been learning about (and creating her own) inventions at school. Her enthusiasm for the subject has extended beyond the classroom. Case in point, Sloan and I now brainstorm wacky inventions in the car. For example, Sloan might say “movie theater” or “kitchen” and we will then pitch inventions that could improve the movie theater or kitchen experience. Most of them are totally impossible but it gets our creative juices flowing and helps pass the time on car trips to/from grandma’s.

Just yesterday, the prompt of trampoline parks was brought up. This one seemed especially fun to invent for as we love trampoline parks but see some areas for improvement. Here are five of the “inventions” we came up with… 

Who is ready for a battle?! Well, you won’t get that here. Sloan and I just have some wacky trampoline park inventions to share with you.

Reversible Socks – Such a pain to remember, bring, and change socks once you arrive at the trampoline park, right? Our invention is to create a type of reversible sock that serves as an everyday regular sock on one side and a trampoline park-compliant sock on the other side.

Wrist Band Entry – I get so frustrated when we go to the trampoline park and it seems like the last thing Beau wants to do is jump. Instead, he runs to the arcade or loiters around the concession stand. Our idea is to create a wrist band that is loaded with different access permissions. For example, some wrist bands would allow kids to enter all zones that include the actual trampoline park, arcade, and concessions. The band that would be around my son’s wrist would only allow him into the trampoline park. As most of these facilities have open floor plans, some type of invisible force field would need to exist to enforce the different boundaries but you get the idea.

Scented Foam Blocks – All trampoline parks boast large foam pits that you can dive into (good luck getting out if you are my age). These foam areas are comprised of large foam blocks. As you can imagine, because of extensive use from people of all ages who are working up a sweat, the blocks don’t always smell great. How innovative would it be to make the blocks scented with odor-blocking technology? Each establishment could have its own signature scents. For example, at Flying Squirrel you might jump into a pit with buttered popcorn and Dr. Pepper-scented blocks while at Altitude you might dive into a pit with wild cherry and grapefruit-scented blocks.

Child Tracker – When we go to the trampoline park, I can let Sloan run wild. However, Beau is still at the age where I need to keep a close eye on him. But to be honest, sometimes I wish I could just sink into one of the chairs and not lift a finger. I propose an invention that would come in the form of an app or tracker device that a trampoline park employee would give parents upon entry. It would report exactly where your child was in the facility, asses whether they were being a bother to others, and determine if they were injured/bleeding. The app or device would sound an alarm if you needed to get off your butt and attend to your poor kid.

Courage Pills – Sloan’s nemesis at one particular trampoline park is a zip line that requires you to climb a wall before taking off. There might have been an instance in the past when Sloan froze once getting to the top. It was because of this experience that she suggested a pill you could take to calm your fears. Upon swallowing the capsule, you would have all the courage you need to kick off that wall and fly down the zip line. Obviously she doesn’t know about anti-anxiety pills that already exist or my personal favorite fear-reducer…beer.

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Who else wants to apply for a patent? Let Sloan and me know your wildest trampoline park inventions. Don’t Blink.

Jumping Thursday Rundown

Greetings to everyone on this Thursday evening. I hope this blog post finds you well and that your days aren’t too mixed up from the Monday holiday. Let’s begin with tonight’s five topics…

Parent Frustration – An annoyance that only a parent would know has happened to me consistently over the last several years. It becomes low key aggravating when you take your kids to the trampoline park and they make a beeline to the arcade area. I battled this again with Sloan and Beau on Monday night at Altitude in Spokane. It’s like they don’t know that I paid a lot of money so they can jump and the very last thing I am going to do is shell out more money so they can play arcade games. It is also frustrating from the standpoint that you take them to partake in a physical activity and they want to ditch it for the exact opposite. Oh well.

On Monday night, Beau preferred sitting at an arcade game he wasn’t playing opposed to jumping.

Pullman Adventure – Last Saturday, Sloan got to experience Pullman for the first time. She walked around campus, attended a WSU basketball game, and ate at Cougar Country. She loved every single moment and couldn’t stop talking about it the rest of the weekend. This dad had a pretty memorable time too. It was nice to finally show her where I go on a weekly basis and give her a taste of the Cougar community. I can’t wait to take her (and hopefully Beau) to a football game this fall.

Some of the photos from the special Pullman trip that Sloan and I took on Saturday.

New Gig – My dad couldn’t stay out of work for long. After retiring a few weeks ago, my dad was already back at it this past weekend. He is lending his talents to Allied Universal, an event services company. In preparation for retirement, he actually started working for them a couple years ago. He has already worked a plethora of sporting events and concerts for the company but he is now available for more assignments. This gig fits him perfectly!

My dad worked the same game that Sloan and I attended in Pullman on Saturday.

Throwback – Speaking of my dad’s retirement endeavors, he spent last week cleaning out the basement. One of his goals was to round up the various photo albums and distribute them to the three Reser children. This photo was uncovered in the ocean of images my dad sorted through. I have no idea how old I was but I shared it as a #TBT Instagram post and decided I would re-purpose it for this blog post as well.

A photo of me from back in the day.

National Popcorn Day – A year ago on this date, I celebrated National Popcorn Day by reminiscing about the times I have addressed popcorn in this blog. Read that superb entry here. Earlier this month, Sid and I watched the “Food That Built America” episode about microwave popcorn. It chronicled the rivalry between brands such as Orville Redenbacher, Pop Secret, and Jolly Time. If you are a nerd like us—and you like popcorn—you might want to mark today by watching that particular episode.

Happy National Popcorn Day!

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Time to put a bow on this post. As always, thank you for reading, your interest is appreciated. Don’t Blink.

November 4 Thursday Rundown

Let me wish a pleasant good evening to everyone! I hope your month is off to a fabulous start and that you are soaking in the fall season. I have a Thursday Rundown up my sleeve tonight so let’s get begin with the five topics…

Sky on Fire – I mentioned that we attended a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot of a trampoline park last Friday. Earlier this week, the business (Altitude Trampoline Park) posted a Facebook album of the event and our family made the cut in a couple of the images. What more can you say about the sunset in this photo? I thought it was too cool not to share.

If you notice the sky before you notice us, that’s okay (photo courtesy of the Spokane Valley Altitude Trampoline Park).

Free Pizza – As I have indicated before, I am a generous Google Reviewer. But if I do have a really bad experience, I will be honest in the review. I aired my grievances about a hibachi steakhouse in Las Vegas last July and ended up receiving a call from the manager and a generous gift card for the trouble. A couple weeks ago, things didn’t work out as promised at a local Spokane pizza chain. I noted it in the review and the manager soon reached out and sent me gift cards as well. I appreciate Pizza Rita’s gesture and we had a great experience when we re-ordered last Saturday.

I received $30 in Pizza Rita bucks to give the local chain another try. Our second experience was much better.

Nov. 4 – Today marks a bunch of “holidays.” It is National Candy Day (shouldn’t that have been five days ago?) so if you want to read about my top five favorite hard candies please be my guest. It is also National Cash Back Day, a day I celebrate because there is nothing I like doing more than bypassing ATM fees and walking into a supermarket to buy a 99 cent soda only to request $60 in cash back. Finally, it is also National Men Make Dinner Day and not only did I cook tonight but I cooked last night too. Happy Candy/Cash Back/Dudes Cook Day!!

Happy National Candy Day!

Muffin Tops – I asked this question on Twitter, but what good are muffin tops? Sid brought one home for me from the espresso stand last Friday morning and the first thing that went through my head was where is the rest of it? It is kind of like giving me a slice of pie with just the crust. Although the calorie count makes a convincing case for why it is just the top, I think I still prefer my muffins whole.

This was the Grandma Ruthie’s muffin top that Sid brought home for me last week. I just really don’t understand them.

Spookiness – On Halloween afternoon, this shady character was standing at one of the entrances to our neighborhood. He was drawing attention to a haunted house that would open later that night. If you know me, you probably aren’t surprised that I rolled down my window and engaged the guy in a conversation (and asked to take his photo). Later that night you better believe I went to the location and went through the haunted house. It had several scenes, strobe lights, actors, etc. I love the effort Halloween fanatics put forth to transform their own residence into a haunted house for the enjoyment of others.

This guy definitely stood out.

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Thank you for joining me tonight. Remember to fall back this weekend and savor that extra hour of sleep! Don’t Blink.