The Climb

Yesterday we were itching to get out of the house and do something fun when Micah came up with a great idea. He had recently met with the owner of a local rock climbing gym and thought we should check it out. It turned out to be so much fun, it had a whole kids play area and it cost half as much as a bounce place.

The kids play area had tons of climbing obstacles that gave the kids a sense of accomplishment:

It also had huge PVC pipes that served as slides, tunnels and swings where the kids could be silly:

They love being silly:

The kids crawled through this tiny little tube which was a very long tunnel. I thought once James went in he would surely get stuck in the middle and one of us would have to go in after him, but he did great! He was so cute, the whole way through I could hear him saying "almost there, almost there." I have never thought of myself as claustrophobic but just thinking about crawling through this long skinny tunnel was making me nautious:

Unfortunately we arrived a little late and missed the last class so that Micah could learn how to "belay" so that Haylie could go on the ropes and climb the really large rock wall. Luckily, we ran into the owner on the way out and he remembered Micah and offered to help Haylie and James himself. He was the nicest guy and, we found out, actively involved in Youth For Christ.

Haylie getting ready for her ascent:

I can't believe how high she went - so brave:

James wanted a turn too:

He didn't go quite as high but he went up a little ways :)

This was so fun! Can't wait to go back!! Haylie wanted to climb it over and over and I think James could have done a little better with some more warm-up.