Fear of Heights

So we have recovered from family camp. I think I enjoyed it, but I am not likely to repeat the experience. I never went to sleepaway camp as a kid, but I imagine that this is what it probably would have been like. We had a room up at the lodge more than big enough for the whole family. Doof chose to sleep in the upper bunk and Bug slept in pher portable crib. We had air conditioning, a refrigerator, and a sink. But we did not have our own bathroom. No, we had to go outside and a walk a short way. It could have been worse -- we could have been in one of the other sets of cabins where we would have had to walk through woods to get to the bathroom. It was bad enough having to take a flashlight.

The other main problem was that meals were at very specific times and there was no flexibility. If you didn't get to the dining hall by 9 am, no breakfast for you. Doof wasn't whelmed by the food choices, but then she is 12 and picky. I didn't mind so much. We hiked and swam and went tubing (Bug slept on the boat) and read a lot. It was nice to be away from it all. Part of the appeal of the place was that it had day care for little ones, which we used a fair amount, particularly on our last full day there when G and I tackled the high ropes course. After a short hike, we crossed a creek and got to try to conquer our fear of heights. They call it the Leap of Faith. Essentially, after you put on the very attractive harness and helmet, you climp a series of pegs up a tree until you get to a platform. From the platform, you jump, hoping to catch a trapeze before they lower your harnessed-in self to the ground. I went first. The climb wasn't too bad. I think having small feet helped a lot since I never felt like my footing was unstable. After awhile, it seemed like I ran out of pegs, so I yelled down for advice and was told to use the tree branches. Okey dokey fine. Somehow, I made it to the top. 65 feet up.

And on the count of three, I jumped, having promised myself that, if I lived, I would lose 20 pounds. I missed the trapeze. Oh well. I was never very good at the standing broad jump. I can't say it was fun, but I'm glad I did it.

G went next and did great. Of course, he figured that after I did it, he couldn't not make the climb.

The other big thing that happened on our trip was that Bug figured out this walking business. Oh and she learned how to climb the ladder up to the top bunk. While I applaud how clever she is in figuring things out, I'm not all that excited about her climbing ladders.

I'll add pictures as soon as Blogger stops being so ornery.