I got a trampoline...FINALLY!

I've been saying it for at least 10 years now: "As soon as I live in a house with a yard again, I'm getting a trampoline!" As of this past Sunday, I accomplished that goal.

I grew up with a trampoline in the backyard from the time I was six until I was 19. I jumped on it ALL...THE...TIME. As my dad says, it was the best toy my parents ever bought me. The best part? I never once got hurt. I will credit that to my gymnastics training.

After college when I lived in Chicago I remember repeatedly telling my roommates about my desire to once again have a trampoline. I even went as far as buying one of the little round indoor ones and I would jump while I watched TV. It wasn't nearly big enough to do flips on, but it was all I could do at that time. We had a small backyard but shared it with the two units above us and there's no way they would've agreed to putting a trampoline back there. Then when I moved back to Bloomington to do my Ph.D. I was hopeful that I would find a house to rent with a yard big enough for a trampoline. Nope, I lived in tiny apartments the entire time. THEN, when Karl and I moved to California we thought about renting a house and I thought, "Now's my chance!" Once again, I was faced with a big, fat NO, as we rented a three-story townhouse with no private yard.

Why did I want a trampoline so badly, you might wonder? Well, at 29 years of age and years and years of the pounding my body has taken from gymnastics, my wrists are shot and my back has problems, making it pretty much impossible for me to do real gymnastics anymore. I can do it but always end up with nagging injuries or pain. Soooo...the next best thing is a trampoline! I can still flip, but without the pounding and impact of tumbling on a regular floor. I have been itching to flip for quite some time, and a trampoline lets me do just that.

I'm in trampoline heaven right now (although Karl is in trampoline hell...he jumped on it a lot on Sunday and has since come down with excruciating back spasms...no more trampoline for him!) I've sprinkled this post with pictures of Karl and me jumping, and here are videos of each of us in action! Enjoy! (Click on the pictures to see a larger version).

Here are the videos:

Andrea on the trampoline from Karl Eagleman on Vimeo.

Karl on the trampoline from Karl Eagleman on Vimeo.