Springfree!

Throughout the last few months Amy and I have promised the kids a trampoline for Christmas. The purchase has been far from straightforward as (like all of these things) when you see one you like you then see or read about one you like/want better.

I'd done a fair deal of research into 'safety' watched endless (amusing) videos on Youtube of people jumping off houses onto their trampoline and somersaulting then landing on their backs on concrete yards(!) and dodgy trampolines giving way (mostly via extremely fat jumpers it must be said). A lot of our friends have trampolines - it seems a trampoline in the garden is de rigeur for anyone with a kid of almost any age.

The Springfree trampoline we bought is great fun. It also looks kind of space-agey and is purported by the people who make it, to be the safest trampoline money can buy.

What wasn't so much fun was putting it together. Ivor and I spent a (hot) boxing day assembling the thing. I'd already proudly laid the ground work of paving slabs and had a big delivery of mulch for the trampoline to sit on. Allegedly a trampoline could be assembled in 2 hours and we set ourselves that marker.

I don't know whether we took it apart and reassembled it 3 or maybe 4 times. Certainly the spings were an absolute horror-show to get in. Throughout the assembly you can refer to youtube clips of the jovial Kiwi who invented the thing calmly and easily putting the parts in the right place. We tried repeating what he'd done and then repeating it using different parts of our anatomy then tried crawling under it, lying it on its side pulling at it, pushing the netting - I reached the conclusion that the guy was essentially a liar though I don't know how he faked his videos.

In the end it took Amy's intelligence to help us work out the sequence the springs had to go in (there's hardly a mention of this on the instuctions) and both Ivor and I were sore the next day. Still, the thing gives a great bounce - it's perfect for looking over the neighbours hedge and I'm determined to master a back flip by the end of 2013 - hopefully my ambition won't end with me in traction in hospital. Oh yeah, the kids like it too.

Proudly complete on boxing day

Audrey and Eli putting the Springfree through its paces