Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - OakleyPress_07.18.08 - Index

JULY 18, 2008 BUSINESS THEPRESS.NET | 5A
Tumble Time rollicks into East County
by Ruth Roberts
Staff Writer
Angie Harper didn’t exactly wake
up one morning and decide to start her
own business, but it was, she admits,
pretty darn close. The kindergarten
teacher and mother of two was watching
TV with her boys one day when a
segment about an old school bus converted
to a mobile party gym came on.
And so did the light bulb.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I could do that.
What a great idea,’” said the Brentwood
resident, who with her husband, Garrett,
have jumped onto the mobile gym
bandwagon. “So we started looking
into it, and things just fell into place.”
That was roughly a month ago,
and today the Tumble Time Funtastic
Gymnastics Machine has begun making
its way around East County, offering
everything from parachutes games,
climbing rocks, monkey bars, obstacle
courses, slides and more; all in an environment
of safety, fun and supervision.
But for the adults, the best part of
the program is that the bus comes to you.
Whether for a birthday party, neighborhood
get-together, school fi eld trip or
other special occasion, the mobile party
gym rolls up and its trained experts lead
the fun for an hour or longer. And when
it’s over, there’s no clean-up or mess; the
bus simply drives away.
“So far, people seem to be very excited
about this; it’s been great,” said
Garrett. “There is just something about
a bus that kids are drawn to anyway. Add
the mobile gym part to it and you’ve got
a winner. The kids really love it.”
The retro-fi tted, retro-looking 36foot
bus provides a rollicking good time
to be sure, but be warned: the wheels
on this bus aren’t the only things go-
ing round and round. At any given
time, as many as a dozen 2-to-7-yearolds
(larger gatherings can be accommodated
by dividing the program into
two shifts) can be seen sliding, climbing
and tumbling their way around the inside
of the mosaic-colored vehicle – a
Partridge Family experience without
the music. Actually, there is music, but
it’s more toddler-friendly than teen-inspired
– which, says Garrett, is exactly
Photo by Rick Lemyre
The Tumble Time bus, seen here in Antioch’s Fourth of July Parade, is a renovated yellow school bus reconfi gured
as a mobile play gym for children in grades K through fi ve.
the point.
“Our focus is mostly on pre-school
age children and classes,” he said, adding
that all events will be staffed with
credentialed teachers and spotters.
“This is just something that kids that
age react to, and based on the response
we have had, it’s going to do very well.”
Antioch City Councilman Brian
see Tumble Time page 16A