JUMP!

Since I broke my arm on a trampoline at age 11, I never planned to get one for my kids.  But when my friend Laura offered to let us use their little trampoline while they're gone for the summer, it seemed perfect.  It's fully-enclosed with a net and only about a foot and a half off the ground.  The kids were ecstatic!

We paid another friend $20 to bring it over in their truck one evening and the kids were on it immediately.  Twenty bucks for a trampoline that I don't have to winterize--what a deal!

The next morning they were out on the trampoline again at 8:00, wearing jackets.  Suddenly, Annalee ran in the house screaming and crying.  I heard Vander yelling outside and then I heard running water.  How had he turned on the hose?  I have a child lock on it!  I looked outside and saw that the source of the water was not the hose but the automatic sprinklers.  Our backyard sprinklers don't sprinkle, they SHOOT.  And two of them were shooting right at Vander, trapped inside the trampoline with the zipper closed!

Oh, how I wish I had a picture!  He was completely soaked, standing at the zipper door, trying to open it and getting hosed in the process.  His jacket and hood were plastered to his skin.  It was early morning in cold water, so I'm sure he was freezing.  And he was crying.  I took all this in in a matter of seconds and then burst into action.  My first fleeting thought was, "Go outside, need shoes."  Then I realized that this was more important than shoes.  So I ran out and promptly started getting hosed as well.  It occurred to me that if I was drenched it would be a lot harder to clean him up.  So I ran back in the house.  Vander wailed, thinking I was abandoning him.  I found the system settings in the garage and turned it off.  Then I went to rescue my wet boy. 
Afterwards I couldn't help but wish that Nathan had been there so he could have gone to the rescue and I could have taken pictures.  My brother Steven told me I was evil.  No, if I had snapped pictures before saving him THEN I would have been evil!

Later that day Vander said, "Sprinkler coming?"  I couldn't understand him so he said, "Water coming?"

"No, no," I assured him, "I turned it off."

"Turn off?"

"Yes."

It's been several days and he still sometimes asks me, "Sprinkler coming?" even if we're inside, about to go to bed.  Poor little traumatized guy!  But yesterday he was jumping on the trampoline again.