Making of "So Fun"

I got this idea at a birthday party my oldest attended. The venue had a rock climbing wall and we were both excited for him to have a go -until I had to sign the "You can't sue us if we kill your kid" paperwork!  

I choked my terror down of course -and he was fine (dumbass goofed around doing Spiderman jumps with the harness, so he never actually climbed that high!) but it did tinge the event with an unpleasant undercurrent.  It's weird being a mom.  I fight hard to resist the urge to helicopter and coddle, but there's always that "what if?!" scenario playing out in my head.

I had some hurdles in the telling of this one. Only people who have taken kids to these types of play places (and maybe only in the US?) will know about the scary waivers.  If you're not familiar with them, you might think this place IS a death trap and she didn't immediately leave because...?!

The solution came when I added the "Sign now or your children will cry" line.  I felt that everyone could relate to that one and it made it clear that she was signing under duress.  Changing the employees expression to happy helped too -like there was nothing out of the ordinary happening!  Having him happy also meant I could make him a bird, because it's hard to make a curved beak look miserable.  A tropical bird complimented the crazy playpark colors and I almost went with a parrot before realizing I had enough room to fit in a toucan beak.  I often struggle to fit in longer noses, so when the opportunity arises I take it.  I'll save a parrot for another day where I have less room.

For the backgrounds, I googled indoor playpark pictures to get a gist for the shapes, then it was just a color puzzle. You have to make sure any touching shapes are different colors, which can be trickier than it sounds!