Up, Up, and Away

One of my New Year's resolutions was to do something FUN with the kids every weekend since I felt like we were getting too bogged down with chores, obligations, and/or home projects on the weekends.  We didn't officially announce this policy to the kids since I don't want to have to field the "what are we doing this weekend" question.  Also, the FUN may or may not involve going anywhere special, but rather could include playing a few board games or sledding or something free.  So far so good. 

This past weekend we gave the indoor rock climbing gym Vertical Extreme a try.  Abby has been requesting a visit there ever since last year when Scott and I went there on an action-packed adventure date.  I think the year-long build up must have morphed into some kind of pent up climbing prowess;  Abby was so excited to finally (insert dramatic sigh!) go she forgot to be scared and successfully climbed to the top of the gym again and again and again and again and again.  I was suprised how well she did -- she even scaled up one of the courses that leans out away from the wall so you have to support all of your body weight.

Abby at Top

Caroline and Ben even got in on the action.  Caroline was a bit timid at first, but climbed higher on every try and finally made it to the top at the end of the day.  Ben was a wee bit too short to really be able to reach up between the handholds, but he enjoyed hanging from the harness and literally bouncing off the wall and swinging out and bouncing again.  "Bouncing of the walls" is no longer just a figure of speech for us.

Caroline at Top