Cloud9 Trampoline Park: We're All Jumping Fanatics Here

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique, just like everyone else."--Margaret Mead


Jumping fiends hear ye hear ye! There's a place where you can jiggle, wiggle, jump, flip, flop, cartwheel, and much more! Fitness over the years has taken a rather odd turn with runs where you throw color at each other, climb military inspired obstacles, jump into mud pits, and even
run in total darkness. While I love all of these, one of my favorites are trampoline parks.

We have one near me called Cloud9. I've been there 3 times now and absolutely love it. The military discount doesn't hurt either ;-)  We've always had to sign up hours in advance because they all sell out! Luckily this place is enormous so you can jump as crazily as you want without fear of round housing a kid across the room. At least their fall would be cushioned if the worst case scenario happened to you.

That being said, the whole floor is a criss cross of different sized trampolines with little cushioned walkways in between so you can maneuver without flopping around. Whatever you do DO NOT land on one. They look like they have some give, but my ankles and butt will tell you they feel like smashing on to cement after the soft, flexible wonderfulness that is the trampoline itself.

If simply jumping for 30 min or an hour depending on which session you chose is not your cup of tea never fear! There are foam pits you can jump into from varying heights and perform super amazing stunts on your way in. I'm pretty sure I looked slightly like I was flailing around while fighting off an army of bugs whenever I tried to do stunts, but it's the experience that counts. There is also a trapeze you can launch yourself into the pits with. They are surprisingly slippery, especially when you have no idea how sweaty you actually were until you're halfway through the air and falling. It might sound like I had a horrifying experience, but honestly it is fun beyond compare.

They even recently added a "parkour" esque like attraction where you can climb walls, heave yourself across rope walls and swing from tires across more foam pits. There's even a slack line!  I've gone with several friends and my boyfriend and we had a BLAST. I almost forgot! They have basketball "courts" where you can play extra bounce basketball, and you can also sign up for a dodgeball league. You really can't beat this place.

 The last time I went, I was with my former college roommate, Ellie. She was a closet trampoline expert and showed me up 1000% with all her fancy flips and donkey kicks. All the early times were sold out that day so we did a 9pm flight. We lucked out because it was the first adult only session of the night! They turned off all the lights and played essentially club music so we jumped around like crazies for an hour and had one of our favorite nights together this year!




 "I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way."--Carl Sandberg

Hiking First Landing State Park

"I am unbore-able in the great outdoors." --P.J O'Rourke

When you think of Virginia Beach no one has ever said "Oh my goodness that's such a fantastic place to hike!" If someone had said that to me a few weeks ago I would've thought they had a few screws loose. A week ago my boyfriend, puppy (Atlas) and I discovered the glorious, beautiful, and slightly confusing First Landing State Park.

First Landing is located near the Oceanfront area, but away from the insanity of the tourist attractions near the boardwalk. How I have never been there before still blows my mind, but I am beyond happy we discovered it recently. My dog Atlas is 50% border collie, 25% lab, and 25% miniature pinscher. Needless to say he is one insanely cute, smart, hyper, goofy boy. He is also born for walkies. We walk in a lot in neighborhoods near us, at Mt Trashmore and on the beach when it's not too hot, but none of those places are scenic.

Will and I were cruising around the internet one day and came across the website for First Landing State Park. We realized we had never been there before so we decided to take Atlas hiking on our day off. It was one of the best things we've done as a family. There are about a dozen trails you can take depending on what you want to see and the length you want to go. Many of them meet up so if you get tired of one you can switch another!

We took Long Creek Trail, which we thought was a 4 mile loop. Turns out we read the super tiny map they gave us wrong so it was not a loop, but could be if we transferred to another trail...which we had already passed 2 miles ago by the time we realized what had happened. Moving on.

The trails aren't marked too well as far as knowing which trail you're taking, but it's pretty easy to find your way around, plus there's bound to be a fellow hiker you can ask along the way. Back to Long Creek Trail. We started out walking up a small road to the entrance and began our hike in a very wooded area. Atlas had never really seen much forest so he was a sniffing fiend. He just trotted along like he was the happiest puppy ever, which it's pretty safe to say that he was.

I have a feeling this trail is going to be our absolute favorite. Some trails only see the beach or forest. This trail took us through swamp, wetlands, beaches, forest, and even a small meadow. We got to see tons of wildlife while we were out there and met a lot of nice hikers who let their dogs meet ours. By the end of it all even Atlas was tired, which is a feat in itself.

When we finally found the trail head again we were exhausted. We had explored new places, Atlas had the best walk ever, we were starving, and Atlas didn't even want to walk anymore. Will decided to give our poor dog a break since we gave him the longest walk he's ever had and carried him partway down the hill. Atlas definitely has us trained well ;-)

First Landing is also super cheap! As a Virginia resident it's only $5. I think for out of owners it's $10 and there's also campgrounds! It's a super neat place that I can't wait to explore more!

"Marry an outdoors woman. Then if you throw her out into the yard on a cold night, she can still survive."--W.C Fields

Bathing Our Cat

Natasha is our very fluffy, very opinionated, mostly super sweet long hair domestic cat. She's 11 years old and knows EXACTLY what she likes and doesn't like. Her list of likes is much shorter than the dislikes, but she's a cat so that's pretty much expected.

Natasha likes:
Food
Belly rubs (a set amount..the number changes daily so watch out)
Food
Snuggling with your hip at night (only at night)
Food
Chewing on plastic bags
Food
Taking naps
Looking glorious

Natasha painstakingly grooms herself all the time. She looks like a fluffy princess 90% of the day, with the exception of when she wakes up from a nap looking like she went through a wind storm. She also hates it when you call her scraggly. She's a proud woman of color and doesn't like her imperfections being pointed out. I guess when you're 65 years old in cat years you can loudly state your opinion on whatever you want.

That being said, Natasha was not originally adopted by Will and me. She came to us via Will's aunt, then Will's mother. She was never abused, but she is a one family kind of cat and got super sad at being moved from one house to another. Will's mom had 2 dogs, one of which Natasha would always snuggle with and nap on, and 2 other cats as well. One cat weighs about as much as a horse and obviously he's pretty complacent and doesn't care about much, but food. They got along just fine. Sam on the other hand was a complete @$$ hat. He would bully her and she would spend all her days underneath one bed in one room. Not exactly the life of luxury cats deserve/are entitled to.

We adopted her into our pet free home.. which now has 1 other cat and the best puppy ever, but that's a different story. Long story short, she's been extremely happy ever since. That was only the beginning...

A few weeks ago we noticed she wasn't feeling well. As a result, she didn't really bathe herself for about 3 days. After checking with the vet we decided it was time to give her a bath. If you regularly bathe yourself about 3 times a day to 0 times in 3 days...well you have one greasy looking kitty.

Will and I had both seen horror clips from youtube videos of other suckers bathing their cats who then turned into raging monster ball of fluff, teeth, and nails. We knew she did okay when we clipped her nails, but she has a pretty mean growl that we didn't want her to actually act upon.

This is pretty much how it went:

W&E: Nataaaasha! Where are you pretty lady? We've got treats!
N: No response
W&E:  *shakes treat bag*
N: No response
W&E: Dang it! I think she's under the bed. You grab her. No you do it.

Will eventually caved and grabbed her from the bed. The yelling that could only possibly have said "you hate me. why do you hate me. what did I ever do to you. Please don't take me to my death" started shortly after that.

We took her into the bathroom, locked the overly curious dog out, and made sure she couldn't get out. We then, being the awesome pet parents we are, ran her a luxurious, warm bath just for her. Did she appreciate it? No.

When we take her to the vet in her crate we usually have to trick her or chase her down and do some pretty impressive acrobatics in order to grab her and not get scratched and then actually get her in the cage when she has all 4 paws outside the opening and is pushing with all her furry might. We thought this was exactly how the bath would go.

She went fully in the opposite direction. Natasha went full deer in the headlights and stood absolutely still. I'm pretty sure she thought we couldn't see her if she stood still. We always make fun of how much she eats since she is constantly screaming for more food even though her bowl is full. We didn't realize just how big her gut was until we washed her.

Cats are super pitiful looking when you get them wet no matter what, especially when they are really fluffy to begin with. Natasha has extremely skinny limbs, tail and face. Her tummy....not so skinny. It looks like a very skinny cat swallowed a softball.

During her bath she made weird chirping noises that sounded like Beeker from the Muppets.. we were expecting incessant screams of protest and grumpiness like we get on the way to the vet, but we were pleasantly surprised. She did really really well. After the bath was over we dried her off and pampered her to her delight and even gave her treats.

Just remember, bathing your cat might not be the safest idea you've ever had, but your cats might decide to just sit there and be nice...for once. Or it's a tactic to lull you into a false sense of security so they can further their plans of world domination. Either one.