Kangaroo Room
I got to the “Kangaroo Room” first, and bought both of us tickets while I waited for you and the supervisor to arrive. The supervisor came next, and bought herself a ticket. We chatted a bit about our journeys getting there, and soon enough you walked through the door.
You had your trusty green parakeet backpack with you, and you seemed excited about being there. There was a locker in which we could put our things, and you wanted to turn the key, so I held you up while you unlocked it. We put most of our stuff in there, and then we bought some socks from the staff which were especially designed for running and jumping in the facility.
We walked past the café and entered the giant playroom. I don’t think either of us could believe our eyes. So many large structures to run and jump on, slides to slide on, and things to explore! We quickly took off our shoes and put on our special socks. At which point, you were in charge.
Our first order of business was to explore the depths of the main structure, which was covered in all sorts of bright fluorescent colors. Up we went, crawling over tubes, rope, and through rolling pins. We took a detour to a slide, and slid down together, and began our climb anew. This time though, we went higher, and explored the farthest reaches of the structure.
These exploration led us to a jungle-themed section, with brown rope to crawl on and pictures of monkeys smiling at us from the walls. You were a bit apprehensive at this point, and so was I! You could see through the rope we were crawling on to the ground, a ground which we were quite high above.
Nonetheless, we pressed on, you leading the way as we made our way to another part of the large structure with firmer footing. From our high vantage point, we could see the trampolines on the other side, and this soon became our new goal. How do we get to the trampolines? It turned out that we needed to find a slide down, and run around the outside of the massive jungle-gym, it was there that we found the entrance.
Did I mention that this whole time you were either running or darting around with great ease and agility? I was astounded at your boundless energy, while at the same time being reminded that I was no longer as nimble as I once had been. I didn’t care. It was so thrilling to try and keep up with you. Rarely in my life have I ever had so much fun. But I digress.
As I mentioned, we had found the trampolines. After taking a quick look around the area to get our bearings, we immediately began racing each other on a large section of trampolines that were split into long narrow strips, almost like lanes on a race track. At the end of each section there was a trampoline wall, which we threw ourselves into and slid down. We would then spring up onto our feet and race each other back to the beginning. I lost count of how many times we ran back and forth like this, but by the end, I was breathless and covered in a light layer of sweat.
After racing, we took a short detour into some pits filled with foam cubes. You buried yourself inside one of the pits and proclaimed yourself a mole. I pretended to not be able to find you, aimlessly digging through foam cubes, but with no success! Soon though, I threw off the cubes covering you and we shared a good laugh. Unfortunately, the foam pit had claimed your special socks. We looked around for them a bit but to no avail. I went back to the front counter and got you some new ones. When I brought them back to you, we decided it was time for french fries and ice cream.
We made our way to the café area, you picked out the ice cream you wanted-a neapolitan ice cream sandwich-and I ordered the fries. We had to wait a bit for the fries to be done, and while we did so, you ate your ice cream. You told me you had had one like it before, and you seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, which made me happy. Just a few minutes later, our fries came, and we enjoyed our fries-drizzled with mayonnaise-together.
Refreshed from our break, we played in a castle-like structure that contained some fluorescent cannons which shot bursts of air. You thought it was great fun “shooting” me with the cannons and I tried to dodge your well-aimed shots. We ran around in the trampoline area again and continued our explorations of the giant jungle-gym structure.
Soon enough, after what felt like a minute but was in fact another hour, our time had run out. I helped get you ready to go, and you mentioned that you would like to come back to the Kangaroo Room for our next visit. I sure hope we get to! I’ll be sure to ask the supervisor about that. We said goodbye and I watched you walk out the door and out of sight. I felt warm and happy that I had gotten to share such a fun experience with you, but also carried the familiar sinking feeling that I wouldn’t see you again for two weeks. With these feelings on the inside, and my jacket and backpack on the outside, I walked out the door.