A month or more ago, our friend Gavin turned 4, and we attended his birthday party at a kids gymnastics place. Of all the little kids in attendance, our two were both the smallest and the least interested in going onto the gym floor by themselves, so I joined them. And then that other dad felt comfortable joining. And then Keith joined. Here we stretched. Or sit and stared at others, as Grady is oft to do.
Just to my left was the birthday boy, stretching out those hammies.
All the kids wore nametags so the instructors could address each child by name. Ours would not, WOULD NOT, wear the nametags. So I sneaked them on their backs. Ha.
And after a good bit of stretching, we went to the first apparatus.
While the birthday boy swung, the others sat and waited their turn.
The kids did two or three different activites around the gym, but kept being intrigued by this deep pit. What's down there? So magical and mysterious.
Finally, after traversing the high beam, the little boys could go in the pit.
And with a little help, they could also get out of the pit.
And other kids went to bounce on balls.
But we were just not sure that we were done with the pit yet. Cole contemplated.
And with a wee little help, he went back in.
And Grady so desperately wanted in. He just wasn't eager enough to jump on his own, and protested getting help. But, maybe...just maybe...if he leaned over far enough he'd fall in...
Or, if that doesn't work, just putting your head on the ground might do the trick. Surely this puts the body off balance and you'd fall in? No, it didn't. But funny to see what he thought might work.
Naturally failing to accidentally-on-purpose get your body into the fun pit will make a dude a little clingy.
But he became unclingy when he saw his brother get airborne.
And went to do the same.
We ended the gymnastics portion by doing a little big trampoline jumping.
One kid at a time jumped up and down and caused the others to bounce. Here Grady is testing the instructor's firmness on the "one kid at a time" rule.
There are a slew of other activities we didn't capture, including a lot of staring.
And unprovoced rolling on the floor.
Have I mention that this was a trained theme party? We all headed to the dining cart for some cake!
We're ready, bring it on.
Mom Stacy did a great job on the cake. Look, black icing. Awesome. Hope our pieces don't have black icing...that's awfully hard to clean...
This is the only pic I got of Stacy.
The conductor blows out his candle.
And we all dig in. Cake, candy and ice cream=heaven. Our boys normally only get m&m's for peepee and poopoo in the potty, so imagine their delight at getting a whole cup of m&m's while in their diapers!
Our buddy Matthew, Gavin's brother. 
Filled with cake and candy, we headed home, making a joyful noise all the way. Thanks for the very loud party favors, Gavin!
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