Monkey Joes, Take 2

Some of you may recall our last trip to Monkey Joes was not much of a success. But my friend Julie invited us to go play at Monkey Joes this week and I just couldn't bring myself to tell her that we can't go to Monkey Joes because Pressley is deathly afraid of the monkey in the costume. Plus, I wanted to chat with Julie and I thought Evan would enjoy playing with her daughter, Ella. So, I decided to accept the invitation. I knew it might be a disaster, but I was prepared for that. I told the kids we were going jumping. I didn't say where. When we were about 5 minutes from Monkey Joes, Evan started asking lots of questions about which jumping place we were going to. The Little Jumping Bean? No. Leapin' Lizards? No. Then, Pressley chimed in: "Monkey Joes?" she said, voice trembling.... "Yes," I said enthusiastically. "Won't that be fun.?" The wail started out low and then started to grow. "I don't like Monkey Joe!" I assured her, "I know you don't like the monkey, sweetie, but the place is lots of fun. You'll see."

I spent the next 5 minutes talking her off the ledge. I thought Evan and I had her almost convinced until we made the turn into the parking lot. Then she burst into tears. "No Monkey Joes, Mommy! I want to go to a movie!!" (There is a theater in the same parking lot.) I reassured her again. I carried her inside - at her insistence - wondering if I am indeed the worst mommy ever. I asked the lady working at the counter if she expected an appearance from Monkey Joe this afternoon. She assured us that Monkey Joe only comes out for parties. Once she figured out what was what, she assured Pressley that Monkey Joe was sleeping today. After about 15 minutes of Julie and me taking turns holding her, Pressley finally got down to jump. She only freaked out once when we accidentally got too close to the giant inflatable Monkey Joe. Oh, and we had to get ice for her eye when a big kid bonked heads with her exiting a jumpy thing. Other than that, she had a really good time. I swear. Until she decided it was very important to her that she go into the boys' bathroom, which I would not let her do. That produced a tantrum of epic proportions, but considering what a disaster the outing could have been, I'm calling it a success.