Rock Climbing

So I come home last Monday and over dinner I ask Mitchell if he remembers being at the YMCA and the rock climbing wall they have there. He assures me he definitely DOES remember. The reason for this clarity of thought is because he was not allowed to climb the wall due to the fact that he was only 5 years old when we were there last. The rules are that you must be at least 6 years old and weigh 40 pounds or more.

So seeing that he is now able to meet both requirements of the rock climbing pre-requisites, I ask them both if they would like to go back to the "Y" to try rock climbing and maybe some swimming.

A more enthusiastic yes, I could not have asked for. At least from the Mitch side of the table. Brooke chewed on the idea, along with her dinner for a couple of minutes and asked "Is there anything else that we can do there?". I kind of expected this response from her as she is somewhat less adventurous than her brother. She derives pleasure from more cerebral pursuits. Although she does have the capacity to surprise. More on that later.

We decide to go on the following Monday. This is not very popular with my wife. She can't attend on Mondays because of TOPS. Oh well. We would be sure to tell her all about it when we got home.

The concept of "next Monday" is somewhat lost on Mitch. So the use of the calendar is immediately deployed to help him visualize when exactly "next Monday" was. Until then, he was all ready to finish his supper and run out the front door and sit in the van.

It took an entire week, but eventually the day came. I put Mitch to bed on Sunday night and reminded him (unnecessarily) of the upcoming day at the Y after supper tomorrow. He was well aware, to say the least. I reminded him that the trip was not automatic. That he had to be well behaved tomorrow for mom. And wake up and get dressed when he was told to. He assured me that wouldn't be a problem.

Monday morning was interesting. Usually it is difficult to get Mitch out of bed. Well all it took was one wake up call and the next thing I know, he's standing in my bedroom all dressed and announcing "Look, Dad, I'm ready to go to school!".

I got home around 5:20. We had to be there by 6:00, so we had a frenzied dinner of PB&J's and out the door we went.

We got there and Mitch got rigged out and took to the wall right away. Brooke was happy to play on the play structure and the exercise bike. It took Mitch about 25 minutes, but he eventually made it all the way to the top of the wall.

After that, he was eager to try the intermediate wall and moved over to do so. Then Brooke surprised me by saying she wanted to try climbing. Cool! So we got her outfitted and off she went. She did so good. She didn't have as much time to get used to the effort as Mitch did, so she didn't make it to the top. But next time, she will do even better.

We got into the pool for 7:00 and swam for a half hour before heading home. Right after the swim, we went in the steam room for a bit. Oh, man, I love steam rooms! I think come fall, we will likely join as a family. Now that the kids are a little older, there is sooo much for them to do there.