Week 160: Sky Zone & Fuck ICE

Week 160: January 25th-31st, 2026

This week, I channeled my inner child and got to jump on trampolines while attending my boyfriend's little sister's 13th birthday party at Sky Zone. We went to the Sky Zone in Chula Vista (East Lake) and it was about a 30 min drive south of Mission Valley where I live.

Sky Zone is one of many trampoline park companies that makes its money from selling tickets to jump for a specified time slot. It is a great idea, and obviously requires many liability waivers to be signed. When you get a ticket, they give you a specific color wristband and some grippy socks to go jump. You will hear the staff announce things like, "If you have a green wristband, your jump time is now over. Please exit the trampoline area." There are similar places like Altitude and House of Air, but Sky Zone is one of the largest in the country.

Outside of Sky Zone in Chula Vista (Eastlake)

The wristband we got for our time slot

Our time slot was from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, but to be honest, I only jumped for about 30 minutes altogether. My boyfriend and I were helping wrangle kids for photos or for when it was time to eat pizza, and then cake. We also were slightly (incredibly) overwhelmed by the number of children and bodies we had to navigate through to find an open trampoline. I kept saying, "They should make a kid-free version of this place...Maybe even make it 21+ and serve drinks." I personally think it would be way more fun.

Sky Zone also makes its money by charging an arm and a leg for mediocre food like pizza and off-brand Dippin' Dots ice cream that parents are more likely to buy when their kids have been jumping for hours and need to refuel. If you want to bring your own food from home, they charge a $50 "outside food" fee, which sucks, but is a genius business move.

While channeling my inner child, I was also fighting my adult paranoia about germs and sanitation. While I did jump on some trampolines, I could not bring myself to go anywhere near the foam pit. I can't imagine the type of insane bacteria growing in there and would actually rather shave my eyebrows than spend any time in contact with the foam cubes. I genuinely wonder how often the foam cubes get sanitized... if at all...

The foam pit at Sky Zone that I avoided at all costs. Too many germs. And children. But mostly germs.

An even more jarring experience than seeing the petri dish of the foam pit with my adult perspective was realizing my age has actually already taken a toll on me. At my ripe age of 26, I was not able to jump for multiple hours, much less 30+ minutes, and the jumping I did manage to do made me embarrassingly sweaty and winded. I found joy elsewhere, in observing and taking fun photos of my boyfriend's little sister and her friends. I won't include any photos of them here to protect their privacy, but I took some other photos so you can get the idea.

My boyfriend catching some air

My boyfriend doing a FLIP!

One of the trampoline areas at Sky Zone

While I watched the different groups of kids, I realized I'd also forgotten how awkward being 12 and 13 is. Some kids are maturing and developing way faster than others, and everyone is trying to figure out who they're becoming. Middle school is hell for everyone, and I can't imagine how much worse it is now with more social media like TikTok, but the awkward behavior was painstakingly obvious with a few interactions I witnessed and things I overheard.

For example, while most of the kids at the birthday party were busy being kids and jumping, I saw a few young girls beeline to a group of similarly-aged boys. It was like watching Planet Earth. I felt like David Attenborough, *cue British accent: "The two groups of adolescents, separated into male and female, participate in a delicate dance... They flirt with the balance between hesitation, appeal, and confusion, approaching one another but only with the support of their group members..." They filmed TikToks and giggled into their hands when a group of the opposite sex walked by. There were various groups of kids and teens, and I felt like a bit of a boomer when I found myself shaking my head and saying "Kids these days..."

On the other hand, I will say, my hope for future generations was restored a bit when I drove past a group of kids holding "FUCK ICE" signs. I smiled so big and I made sure to honk and give them a thumbs-up, which made them cheer. I also saw a bunch of posts online about various schools participating in the Jan. 30 strike. I personally took the day off of work and didn't spend any money other than paying my lash technician directly, and I am so proud of everyone showing up during these crazy times.

Anyways, here are some bonus screenshots from Animal Crossing: New Horizons that I took this week. The first is of Bones, one of my favorite villagers, in a silly zoomed-in photo, and the other is when I changed Ketchup's catchphrase to something a bit more timely...

I channeled the same energy I gave to Ketchup by calling and emailing my representatives regarding the situation in Minnesota and throughout the country. I highly encourage you all do your own research and find relevant resources, but a very useful one I suggest is 5calls.org.

See you next week.