August 21, 2010 Cran Hill Ranch continued

Once again, we had new experiences and adventures planned for today. Today was Rock Wall Day. The kids needed to be 5 years old to participate, due to the size of the safety harnesses that they needed to wear. The Rock wall was 40 feet tall and covered with various hand and foot holds. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the kids once we got there - as I sat and looked at how high it actually was.

My cousin, Stacy's 2 boys went first. Their 5 year old, Josh, was amazing to watch. He is one little kid filled with brute strength. He made it about 3/4 of the way up by shear strength and determination. He truly amazed us all - had he been a little bit taller we are very confident he would have made it to the top. At the same time, 8 year old, Tyler was climbing next to him. He wasn't quite as strong but was able to make it all the way to the top with his extra height and consistent encouragement from his dad who was on the belay rope with Paul. Next, came Nicholas - we soon discovered that, in typical Nicholas form, he spent the entire time the other 2 boys were climbing planning his attack. He must have sat there and studied which foot hold and hand hold was the easiest to get to, and was going to make the most efficient track to the top. He got on the wall and took off like a jack rabbit. What he lacked in strength he made up for in flexibility and agility, because before we knew it he was 3/4 of the way up. He had a small moment where he had to stop and reassess his path, but he made it to the top and made us all proud.

Nicholas was about 1/2 way up the wall when Gabrielle started. I knew Gabrielle had the athleticism to do it, but wondered whether the height would get to her. I also knew that her own height was not on her side. She did so well. She never really got frustrated, she just kept going. There were a few times where she could reach a hand hold or foot hold, but couldn't quite pull herself up. Paul and cousin Steve, pulled a little harder on belay to give her that extra boost. She made it to the top too.

Gabrielle is about 1/2 way up here, and Nicholas is starting to repel back down.

Gabrielle at the top.

The last one to go was Allison. Now, first you must understand that Allison is more of a ballerina type girl, not really a tom boy. A few times she said she changed her mind - but I told her she needed to try, just try. She didn't make it far - in fact, she made it just out of our reach, but she tried and she did something she had never done before and for that we were so proud.

Happy girl - making it as far as she did.

Later that morning, we were able to pick up their finished tie-dyed shirts.

On the way back from picking up our shirts, they were in the process of closing down a bounce house that they had running for part of the morning. Because we were the only ones there at the time, they let our kids and my cousins kids do a quick obstacle course race against each other.

Allison and Sam

Nicholas races Gabrielle

The traditional Saturday night activity is a hay ride.
We had so many people this year - that we took up 2 wagons with just our extended family. Gabrielle and McKenna were walking buddies on our way to hayride.

Tie-Dye shirts galore.

Nicholas -8, Tyler - 7 , Gabrielle - 6 , Owen -4
Joshua - 5, Josh - 5, Eli - 5, Allison - 5
(yes they are all 5 they were all born within 2 months time
and the 2 Josh's actually share the exact same birthday)
Sam - 3, Matea - 2, McKenna -2

Cousins ready for a hayride.

After the hayride, it is also tradition that we spend some time on the store porch eating ice cream and candy followed by a lot of running around in the open baseball field below.

This was a common site over the course of the weekend.
Shoes, lots and lots of shoes - that were kicked off time and time again at the entrance to the playground. This playground was definitely created for barefoot fun.

Much to my chagrin the roof of the cabin was quite the play place over the weekend too. Needless to say, I got over it because there was no stopping it.