He loves it. He is very good at it.
Before we went to Colorado, Jared told us he wanted to take us rock climbing while we were there.
Sure, I thought. We'll go watch you. But there was no way I intended for my children or Jas and I to actually try it.
Good thing I'm not a bettin' woman, because I sure would have lost!
We all tried it. It was fun!
So on a beautiful (if chilly) Thursday, the whole fam (15 of us) hiked up to a great climbing area in Red Rock Canyon.
First, Jared had to climb up (with Steph belaying him) and fix a top line for us. (I'm typing like I really know what I'm saying. I think I've got all this right, but who knows!)
While she didn't hesitate to get started....
about 1/3 of the way up....
....Lily Kay decided that was high enough, thankyouverymuch.
Not to be outdone by our littles...
...Daddy did fantastic!
If you're good with math, you know that I was the only one left at that point.
Thanks alot, Jas!
Before we went to Colorado, Jared told us he wanted to take us rock climbing while we were there.
Sure, I thought. We'll go watch you. But there was no way I intended for my children or Jas and I to actually try it.
Good thing I'm not a bettin' woman, because I sure would have lost!
We all tried it. It was fun!
So on a beautiful (if chilly) Thursday, the whole fam (15 of us) hiked up to a great climbing area in Red Rock Canyon.
First, Jared had to climb up (with Steph belaying him) and fix a top line for us. (I'm typing like I really know what I'm saying. I think I've got all this right, but who knows!)
Here is Jared attaching that top line (Jas thinks it was about 40 feet up, I think SIXTY...the truth is likely somewhere in the middle!):
The idea is to stay as close to the rock as you can on the way up, finding finger and foot holds. Looks easy enough when you're on the ground watching someone else do it...especially when that someone else knows what they're doing!
But once you start climbing, you quickly start thinking "Where did all those great finger and foot holds go that I saw while I was down there?!?!? There is NO where to get a hold!"
But once you make it to the top and you start heading back down, you lean away from the wall and rappel down. Sit in your harness and just bounce your way back down.
I thought of all my kiddos, Noah was certainly the one that would not want to try it...but mama was wrong again! After he watched cousin Ethan do it, he volunteered first out of our children!
And he scrambled up...
...and then rappelled back down. Lickety split.
Like he'd done this 20 times in the past, or something.
The idea is to stay as close to the rock as you can on the way up, finding finger and foot holds. Looks easy enough when you're on the ground watching someone else do it...especially when that someone else knows what they're doing!
But once you start climbing, you quickly start thinking "Where did all those great finger and foot holds go that I saw while I was down there?!?!? There is NO where to get a hold!"
But once you make it to the top and you start heading back down, you lean away from the wall and rappel down. Sit in your harness and just bounce your way back down.
I thought of all my kiddos, Noah was certainly the one that would not want to try it...but mama was wrong again! After he watched cousin Ethan do it, he volunteered first out of our children!
And he scrambled up...
...and then rappelled back down. Lickety split.
Like he'd done this 20 times in the past, or something.
I think he even surprised himself!
Way to go, Noah!
Libeth wanted to go next.
And she did great also.
And was back down before we knew it.
Libeth wanted to go next.
And she did great also.
And was back down before we knew it.
You did great, Libeth!
I seriously was thinking, "Whose children are these?!?!?" I couldn't believe they were were voluntarily doing this...and doing such a great job to boot!
Next up, was our resident Monkey Man, Daniel Daniel Bo Baniel.
Before we could turn around he'd made it to the top and was already rappelling back down. He took the rappelling very seriously, as you can tell by the in-midair-bounce picture that I caught!
Super job, Daniel!
Last of our children was Zibing-a-ling.
Before we could turn around he'd made it to the top and was already rappelling back down. He took the rappelling very seriously, as you can tell by the in-midair-bounce picture that I caught!
Super job, Daniel!
Last of our children was Zibing-a-ling.
Miss LK is an enigma.
She is easily the most athletic of our children. She picks up physical things so fast. She sometimes acts hesitant at first, but she will usually jump in and then do it like a pro in no time. (Like swimming and riding a bike.)
While she didn't hesitate to get started....
about 1/3 of the way up....
....Lily Kay decided that was high enough, thankyouverymuch.
Good try, Lily Kay!
THEN, it was Daddy's turn!
THEN, it was Daddy's turn!
Not to be outdone by our littles...
...Daddy did fantastic!
If you're good with math, you know that I was the only one left at that point.
And after watching all the rest of my family try rock climbing, I was excited to try also!
It was fun...but hard! (Jared - our belayer - couldn't "help" us big folks, like he could/did the littles! He stopped us from falling, but he couldn't help lift us up!)
It was fun...but hard! (Jared - our belayer - couldn't "help" us big folks, like he could/did the littles! He stopped us from falling, but he couldn't help lift us up!)I took all the pics of the rest of my family...Jas took my pics.
And he took mine from a different angle than I'd been using on all of them.
Like this "bum" shot...
Thanks alot, Jas!This turned out to be harder than I thought it would be! Duh!
My arm and leg muscles got seriously fatigued. But I made it to the top...and boy was I happy when I got there!
Happy to be rappelling back down now:
SO Happy to be on the ground again:
Giddy with happiness to be on the ground again, but too tired to stand up straight:
We had such a wonderful day this day. A wonderful time with our wonderful family...in a wonderfully, amazingly, beautiful setting. It was breathtaking.
Happy to be rappelling back down now:
SO Happy to be on the ground again:
Giddy with happiness to be on the ground again, but too tired to stand up straight:
We had such a wonderful day this day. A wonderful time with our wonderful family...in a wonderfully, amazingly, beautiful setting. It was breathtaking.
Living away for 9 years now - in a beautiful-in-a-totally-different-way part of the country - makes me appreciate Colorado in a way that I didn't during the 12 years that I lived there.
I took 483 pictures during this outing. These are just the actual "climbing action" pics...the rest of that day really deserves its own post!
Just came across your blog from Jennifer's blog. Your family is beautiful! We live in CO, but we don't go rock climbing!
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