Jump Trax

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nick and dinosaur  

My 18-year-old nephew known as Nicholas or Nick to the rest of the world and Nicks to me, works part time at a place called Jump Trax. He's worked there for two years and though I've visited during that time, I never had a chance to see the inside of the place. In fact, I didn't really know what the place was. It's an inflatable jumping place. Hmm...

 

jump trax logo

 

So I'm back in the Boston area unexpectedly and we were planning to drop Nicks off at work one day and I asked if we could have a tour. “Sure”, he said. Remember, he's 18 and I'm his aging aunt. Saying “Sure” was very large in my book and I was looking forward to seeing what a jumping place was. I mean I know what “jumping” is, but an inflatable jumping place, that's something different from a place that's jumpin' or getting jumped.

 

wow

 

Son of a gun, if Jump Trax isn't a place where kids go to jump. It's a village of huge, soft, inflatable creatures and structures. You take off your shoes and dive in … and jump. You can have jumping parties or open jump time if nothing else is scheduled. You can enjoy it if you're 6, 16 or 60 although I was not invited to jump... not everything was totally inflated yet. Maybe next time.

 

inflating at jump trax

 

I'm not sure I CAN jump, now that I think of it. I know I could jump once, but I don't do it often any more. I jump off the boat (actually a graceful step-down is more accurate) and I “jump to” when the captain gives a command (as if!). If I get a special invitation, I jump on it. And when we don't get to port on time or the weather's lousy, I get jumpy. I need to ask Nicks if I can jump at Jump Trax. It sounds as if it could be another adventure.

 

Days and Ways to Celebrate
A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.
April Fool's Day
The reference to this day dates back to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the 14th century. It's celebrated in many countries by sticking a paper fish to someone's back without them knowing it, a tradition known in France as poisson d'avril, literally April Fish. Go ahead, do it, fool someone!
Sliced Bread Day
First time sliced bread appeared commercially (Holsum Bread), followed by Wonder Bread (1930). It was advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped" which led to the expression "the greatest thing since sliced bread". And now you know the rest of the story.