Joey's 5th

This past weekend we celebrated Joey’s fifth birthday party with twenty-five of his closest friends at a local venue known as “Bounceland.” The location is a industrial building that has been converted into a childrens place and filled with massive air-blower powered creations that cater towards children and adults that are young at heart. Slides, castles, obstacle courses, and houses are all a part of these massive structures that create a child’s Eden.

Jessamyn and Joey had been invited to another birthday party here that started an hour earlier so we had arrived in plenty of time for the kids to play before starting our own party.

After about a half hour Jess quietly left the bounce area and headed into a private party room for her friend’s birthday party while Joey continued to play away.

Shortly thereafter, Joey’s friends started arriving at the front door and I ran to get him from the play area so that he could greet his guests.

I was amazed at just how many friends my son has as well as how jovial and genuinely friendly they all were together.

Right away, the kids started talking about Jedi’s and Star Wars and later moving onto how much fun they were about to have “bouncing.”

Joey was proud to point out his name with the number “5” printed next to it on a wall near the entrance to all of his friends as they made their way inside.

After about ten minutes of play I was accosted, while chasing my son and his friends with my camera, by two of Jessamyn’s friends.

“Where’s Jessamyn?”

“Well, she is here but at another birthday party.”

“We want you to go and get her for us.”

At this point feeling the heated desires of two girls, I went to find my daughter as she was in the middle of eating cake at the other party.

I whisper in her ear “Jess, you have a couple of friends looking for you. Do you want to come and join them? Please?”

She wisely indicated that she’d like to finish her cake first, but that she’d be right out.

I then tried relaying this information to her friends, but found a brick wall quickly thrown in my path.

“Well, we’d like you to go and get her now, though.”

Fearing for my social life at this point, I’m trapped with no way out from these two as they have cornered me as they demanded action. Fortunately Jessamyn showed up right at that moment to save me and the three girls went running off like the three Musketeers towards the nearest slide based device.

At this point, I catch back up with Joey and his friends to take some time rough-housing with them as I chased them around one of the playthings and I acted the part of an angry beast.

Although red-faced, I’m amazed at Joey’s energy and stamina. By now, he has been playing non-stop for over. This exuberance stands in stark contrast to earlier events of the day when he first arrived at his dance class in the morning.

After a few short minutes of warm-up running, he emerged from his class looking for me stating that “Daddy, I’m really tired and I need to take a break.”

“Can’t you just sit down right here for a minute or two?” I asked as I pointed to a spot against the wall next to the door just inside the classroom.

“No, Daddy, that’s only for time-outs and I’m not being bad yet” which, coming from him was a true statement at this point, but in recent classes he and a fellow co-conspirator have routinely avoided Mr. Lonnie’s instructions during class as they craft their own “firefighter” slash “rescue hero” based scenarios instead of paying attention. I suggest that maybe he should just take it easy for a little bit and then re-join his class.

“Well, ‘ok’, I’ll go back, but I’m really tired” he says before rejoining his group as they finish up their last laps around the room. A minute later he re-emerges again saying “it’s ‘ok’ Daddy, I’m just going to the bathroom.” He rushes into the bathroom, neglecting both closing the door and turning the light on as he performs his duty in full earshot of the multitude of other parents patiently awaiting the end of the hour long dance classes.

“Ok, I’m going back in to my class now” he says on the return trip from the restroom.

This all happened seven hours ago by this point and his earlier fatigue now seems quashed as he runs non-stop through this jungle-like environment.














As we move into our private room for cake and presents am swarmed by a sea of Darth Vader faced children wearing masks my wife and Brooke spent several hours putting together in previous nights.

While my wife is cutting the cake I find my son pulling all his friends over to his present table and pumping them for information about what they got him.

“So, tell me which one you got me… ok, what’s inside it?”










A couple of them realized that they probably shouldn’t be releasing this information, but after a little more persuasion by Joey they gave in.

“Joey!” I tell him “you shouldn’t be getting your friends to tell you what they got you. That’s the point of a present. It’s all about the surprise.”

“But Dad, I was just asking them about the presents they got me. I just want to know.”

Simple logic from a five year old, I’m sure.

The plethora of presents astounds both Jenny and I. He’s gotten more gifts than we’ve ever seen for him. Enough that we have to institute a policy of ‘only one gift per day’ can be opened.

A friend makes a statement that almost brings me to his knees as he approaches Joey while he’s opening his presents “Joey, can I have your address and phone number so I can give them to my mom to setup a time for me to come over and play with all your new toys.”

Children really do wear their hearts on their sleeves.

A wonderful party is had by all as another year passes and our little boy becomes not so little anymore.

jp