Climbing "The Pinnacle" at REI

For our Family Night out this week we went to climb "The Pinnacle" at REI.  This was the first time the kids have attempted climbing.  Before we climbed Collin says he "was a little nervous" - but I think he was more nervous than he was letting on, because Ella had to go first.  In true Ella fashion she got the harness buckled on and went for it.  She was not nervous at all.  She was given a little instruction and then off she went.  She started out strong and got about 1/3 of the way up before she paused and looked down.  Then the nerves set in and she froze.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to let go of her death grip on the rock and lean back to repel down.  She finally did come down and as soon as her feet were planted on solid ground she was already asking, "Can we come here tomorrow"?  I think once she realized it was safe she wanted to give it a fair shot.  I felt a little bad for her.  I think if she hadn't gone first she would have seen that it was safe and probably made it quite a bit further.  I can't wait to see what she does next time.

Collin was excited to climb, but I could tell that he was nervous.  I was guessing that he would make it about as far as Ella, maybe a touch farther.  He is definitely our more reserved kid and it takes him awhile to get up the courage to try something he is nervous about.  I figured he could give a try this time and maybe next time we came back he could give it a real shot.    He was all business.  Let's get buckled in and get this over with.    He started up the wall and just took off.  Before I could even snap a few pictures he was over half way up the wall.  The next thing you know he is ringing the bell at the top.  Now keep in mind this is a 55 foot wall - that is WAY up there.  I am scared to look down when I get to the top.  Still in doubting mode, I thought, "Wait until he looks down and has to let go, we are going to have to call the firefighters to get him down".  But to my complete shock, he looked down, smiled, and repelled down like a pro.  He never hesitated one time throughout the entire climb.  Because he is the one that is usually doing stuff so that he isn't shown up by his little sister, you could just see the look of pride and accomplishment on his face as he got closer to the ground.  I know he was really scared to do it, and I was so proud of him!  He demonstrated such courage.  It was written all over his face - I can do anything!  It was so great.  Shortly after he got unbuckled he even said, "Next time we go to Mall of America, I'm riding the upside-down roller coaster first".  A roller coaster that we spent the better part of an evening trying to convince him to ride, but Ella wasn't tall enough to try it first and there was no way he was going to be the first to go.  It was such a great thing, to watch him go for it and make it!  I think we may have unleashed a new sense of confidence and courage, hopefully we won't regret it!

You would think that after watching the kids do such a great job, that I would think, "If they can do it, so can I".  But I got half way up my wall. looked down and shouted, "okay - that's enough for me, (like let me down from here).  But then I could hear Matt and the kids yelling, "come on you can make it".  I couldn't let my 7 year old have more courage than me, so up I went.  I will for the rest of my life tell the kids...."remember the time that I wanted to quit on the rock wall, but kept going.....".  If I had to nearly die, at least I should be able to use it for example for the next 50 years!

Matt also climbed and made it over a cliff on his wall that had previously haunted him.  All in all we had a great night, and I think learned a lot about ourselves through our little family adventure.

UPDATE:  We went back to "The Pinnacle" this week.  Ella was DETERMINED to get to the top.  Collin went first and scampered right up again.  Ella started out strong, but several times along the way, she would pause and look down.  By the look on her little face, you just knew that she was scared to death and wanted to come down so bad, but she did NOT give up.  Ella is one little determined girl.  She was not going to let that rock get the best of her and she WAS going to make it to the top.  And that is just what she did.  After several pauses in which I thought she was for sure done, she kept moving and eventually she did make it all the way to the top.  There was no way she was coming off that rock without first making it all the way up.  We had such a great time doing this together.  Collin learned that he can accomplish things that seem scary if he just gives it a try - and that it might even turn out to be fun.  Ella learned that if she puts her mind to something she can do anything!

That's a LONG way up!

Collin practicing repelling down before heading up.

Collin at the top ringing the bell.

Mom's turn.

Daddy conquered his rock!

I'm not kidding it's WAY up there!

Video from Ella's Showcase

Here is a short video clip from Ella's Gymnastics Showcase.

Ella's Gymnastics Showcase

Ella had a big audience for her gymnastics show: 2 sets of grandparents, 3 if you count Denise :), Cyndy, Nora, Megan and Elizabeth....13 in all!!  She had a great time showing everyone all her gymnastics tricks and LOVED getting a medal at the end.

As usual, Madelyn can't wait for her turn to be in the spotlight.

Ella proves once again, that she has no fear!  

Her she is doing a flip into the pit.

Ella kept going to Nora in-between each "trick" to make sure she was watching, or maybe just to give her yet another kiss and hug.  She couldn't even pose for a picture with her special medal without first showing it to Nora.  We are sure going to miss having her around all summer, but we're already looking forward to seeing her this fall.  

Ella works really hard and has lots of fun at gymnastics. We are so proud of her.

I Will Love You Forever

Madelyn did not get a nap today.  By 7:00 she was so tired.  She did not even make it through her normal 15 minutes of singing Christmas songs at bedtime before falling asleep with Matt still lying in bed next to her.  This NEVER happens.  About an hour later, I heard her kind of whimpering in bed.  I went up and she said she had to go potty.   I got her up and she barely opened her eyes.  I couldn't resist the urge to take this sleepy little girl in my arms and go to the rocking chair.

As I sat down she snuggled in next to me, barely awake.  I know that the number of times that she will curl up and sleep in my arms is now numbered, and so I closed my eyes to soak it in.  It is amazing to me how some things have remained the same.  Her "little body" is not so little in my arms anymore.  Yet aside from the weight of her laying on me, so much is just how I remember it.  The sound of her breathing, her legs curled up against her belly, the feeling of her chest rising and falling,  the warmth of her skin against my hand, the way she clenches and releases her fist until she finally gives into deep sleep and her hands lay limp on my chest.  Then pure bliss as you know she is finally asleep.  Knowing that you should lay them down, but sneaking just a few extra minutes anyway.

The days of babies are not so distant for me.   I remember wishing they would sleep through the night - even just once.  But now days, I find myself wishing they would wake up in the night, wanting mommy's arms around them - even just once.

Spring Fever

Madelyn LOVES her new rain boots, she wears them every chance she gets.  Rain, snow or sunshine!

Easter Eggs

Finishing up decorating our Easter eggs.  Madelyn was the last one standing.  I think she would have decorated 4 dozen eggs if we had that many.

The kids blew out all their own eggs this year -- willingly!!

I guess maybe we should have used that little metal tool to dunk the eggs - oops.

Helping take care of Baby Nora

We were so lucky to have Baby Nora stay with us again.  The kids even got to help feed her this time.  Of course they all had to have a turn.

We went to the basement for a quick photo shoot.  Mom is this what you had in mind? 

.

That's better.  Look at that little sweetheart!  Nora 4 1/2 months

A day at the rink

We have been trying to take advantage of our lull in activities between hockey and baseball to give Madelyn a chance to have some fun.  We went to open skate again this weekend.  This time we talked Megan and Jake into coming with us for some fun on the ice.  Ella spent her time practicing "cross-overs" (a hockey term that I certainly wouldn't explain correctly).  Collin raced mom around the rink, and I won!  I suppose in fairness, I should mention that Collin skated backwards the whole way.  Jake did a great job keeping up considering he has barely spent any time on the ice at all.  And after some coaxing, Madelyn got up the guts to let go....now if only I could get up the guts to "let go"!  Or as parents do we never really "let go" and I should just give up trying and hold on for dear life as long as I can.

Winter at the North Shore

We spent a weekend in March up at the North Shore.  We had plans of doing lots of hiking, but when we got to Gooseberry Falls we quickly realized that hiking was not in our near future.  The trails were literally pure ice.  There were spots that you could barely crawl, let alone hike.  Even mommy and daddy wiped out a few times.  It was just way too dangerous.  So we cut our losses and headed to Larsmont.  We spent the weekend playing on the rocks by the lake, breaking giant ice chunks, playing games, watching movies, staying up late watching hockey games, and lots and lots of swimming.  We spent a lot of time talking, and lots of time just being quiet.  Maybe even a little time falling asleep in front of the fire, snuggled up watching a hockey game late into the night.  There were not a lot of stand-out moments, but countless little memories that I will cherish for a very long time.  It felt so great to take a breath from our busy life and just soak in pure happiness.

This was the trail that we had planned to hike on.
As you can see it is just all ice and STRAIGHT
down past the fence.  So, we improvised and the
kids slid on the ice instead!

We were determined to give it a fair try, but as you can see, even crawling wasn't working.

Gooseberry Falls

The view from our room.

Lazy morning movie time.

The kids broke the ice, slid on the ice, threw the ice and even tried to wear the ice!

The evening ritual of making smores in the fire before bed.