North House Fun Day!

The following is reflection written by Kevin Franey, one of this year's North House Volunteers.

North House is certainly not one to shy away from new and exciting experiences, so when my housemate Colin proposed to me that we spend our in-service day at a place called Extreme Trampoline, I knew that not only would there be no opposition to it, North Housers would jump all over it (yes, pun intended).  Even better still, trampolining wasn't all we would have the time and resources for.  We have kept a bucket list all year, and while trampolining was not on the list, when we realized our budget left us a little extra wiggle room beyond the trampolines, we thought what better an opportunity to cross an item off of our bucket list than with an in-service?  Some things from our childhood will never die and a desire to eat birthday party food in a fort built out of bedsheets and shakily positioned poles will always be there.  So the agenda was set and we were pumped.

Extreme Trampolines is exactly what it sounds like.  Wall-to-wall trampolines, trampolines on the walls (so that we could literally be bouncing off the walls), trampolines leading into a foam pit, trampolines set up for dodgeball matches, this place had everything you could want for an afternoon of high-flying fun.  Ninety minutes of flips, spins, dodgeball, choreographed dance routines, relay races, and just plain jumping, left us with burning legs, sore backs, and full hearts.  A quick stop at a nearby park for a picnic and relaxing games gave us shady respite before heading back to North House and a fort which would have impressed Gaudi himself.  We followed the perfect physical activity with the perfect non-physical activity of pizza and pillows to complete our wonderful day.  It was an excellent day of light-hearted fun which brought us closer as a community and gave us a few memories which we will be able to cherish always as the North House Ninjas!