This weekend, Gub and her pal went to Seattle Center's Whirligig festival, a madhouse of bouncy rides and wandering entertainers. Having never brought her to a carnival of any kind, I wasn't sure she would like it, but it took only a few minutes of seeing the other kids at play for her to catch on: This was going to be awesome. Since she and her friend are both under 2, we headed upstairs to the trio of toddler bouncy rooms, which were conveniently parked next to the permanent family area in the Center House.

Gub's friend had been there days before, so she demonstrated the concept: Jump, throw yourself down, crouch in a pile of balls and run like mad. The next 45 minutes were a series of quick runs around each of the play areas, followed by a half hour of stair marching in the family room.

We ran into our neighbors, who have bigger kids, and they were looking as full of puppylike energy as Gub was. You still have the rest of the week to check out the event, and on Thursday it's free.

As much fun as she had, Gub was equally enthralled by the short Monorail ride we took on our way home. I can't believe we hadn't gone before, but there couldn't have been a better time for her to enjoy it. As we pulled into Westlake Center, she pleaded to the driver: "More choooo choooo, peese!"

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