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Get Outside and Play at The Big Bounce America

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Terradrift at The Big Bounce America

Terradrift at The Big Bounce America

If you have been following Terradrift for any length of time, you know that we are basically overgrown children. We love to play. Don’t expect us to pass a playground or tire swing or climbing wall without taking at least one go at it. Clearly, we are not concerned about looking dignified. But what fun is life if you’re spending it trying to look dignified? Not fun at all, if you ask us. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the minute I discovered The Big Bounce America was going to be in Austin for the weekend–my birthday weekend, no less–I immediately decided that was where I would be spending my birthday evening.

And wow. I bounced my little heart out and didn’t care a friggin’ lick that we were probably the oldest ones present. That may not sound surprising considering it was a bounce house, but we attended the “Adults Only” session. There’s one every night: they kick out anybody under 16 so the big kids (like us) can go crazy without worrying about landing on any fragile pint-sized humans or feeling guilty about hogging the bouncy slide. (Full disclosure: I never feel guilty about hogging the bouncy slide).

Ball pit #1 at The Big Bounce America

Ball pit #1 at The Big Bounce America

I was wearing my custom “It’s my Birthday!” origami bunny badge (handmade by Josh several years ago), and thereby learned that the guy in front of me in line was also celebrating his birthday. I asked how old he was. Twenty-one. He asked how old I was. Thirty-one. It’s cool. I’m clearly abnormally awesome for my age. I understand.

But back to the gigantic bounce house! It had slides! It had ball pits! It had obstacle courses and basketball hoops and confetti and beach balls! It was supremely entertaining. It even had those bouncy balls with handles you sit on to bounce around the house. We had one when my sister and I were kids (we’re not the only ones who raced around the living room on those things, right?), but putting a bouncy ball on a bouncy surface multiplies the fun factor by about a gazillion. Trust me.

Your admission allows you to go nuts in the bounce house and its various chambers for an hour, but close to the end the staff kicked the group participation up a notch by hosting competitions like limbo (which is extra difficult when the ground beneath your feet is both squishy and slippery–and I’m a limbo pro) and sack races (which are way more exciting than on solid ground where if you wipe out the surface beneath your feet is far less forgiving). It. Was. A. Blast. There was giggling. And lots of smiles. And me beating Josh on the obstacle race. Every. Time.

The Big Bounce America is the world’s largest traveling bounce house and Austin was just one of the many stops this year. They are touring all over the country making stops in large and mid-sized cities all over the place. Tickets are $25 per person for the adults-only sessions (if you have a kid you’re allowed to bounce with them during other sessions), so it’s not super duper cheap, but it’s an admission well-worth the price tag. If you’re not a total stick-in-the-mud, that is…

Wander (and bounce) on!

The Big Bounce America 2018 locations.

The Big Bounce America 2018 locations.

*Full disclosure: The Big Bounce America provided us with tickets (but we would have paid to go even if they hadn’t).