Sunday, August 12, 2007

belay's on!

Back on the rock at last! Our friends Tim and Stephanie invited us to
go rock climbing at Chatfield Hollow in Killingworth. Tim proved a worthy
climbing instructor to Dylan, who was so excited to climb "way way up high."
Here, Dylan's making his way up a respectable 5.4.
Dylan seemed to be a natural (no sewing-machine knee or Elvis syndrome--I guess three-year-olds aren't aware enough of their natural surroundings to
be afraid). Rappelling was a bit more of a challenge, but Dylan made two
successful ascents, while Alexa and friend Morgan cheered him on.

Alexa wanted in on the action, as usual. She's more of a free-climber, though,
so she was less excited about the harness and rope.
Even Mom got to have a turn.
After a tough workout, the kids enjoyed a post-climb snack on their
camp chairs. (Much to the chagrin of Dylan and Morgan, Alexa had
systematically eaten all of the chocolate from the trail mix while they
had been looking for lizards and running from giants.)

We punctuated the day with pizza (and beer for the parents), and a renewed desire to be on the rock again. All we need is a leash for Alexa, whose fearless desire to explore her surroundings can be a bit unsettling at times. . . .

2 comments:

CreamyJoe said...

Tric' (how do you write "Trish" without forcing the erroneous "sh" at the end???)... thanks for letting me know about this great site of yours.

Man oh man, Dylan looks JUST LIKE his dad in that picture of the kids in the camp chairs! Out in Utah, we're finding ourselves outdoors more often than not as well - the state just kinda COMPELS it outta you. I pushed Simon up a mountain trail in his jogger stroller the other day. What a workout! Aye yi yi.

But ANYhoo.. things here are settling in great, and I look forward to peeking in on you guys now from time to time.

Love ya,
cousin Joe.

Shannon Nevin said...

You are grooming some little climbers - good for you! We have yet to try that with our kiddos. Those are some precious photos.