Rock Climbing - Bud and Babe style

I think I’ve mentioned before that Bud is an awesome climber (I could probably prove it by linking to a few of my old posts but…yeah, no). So when I got an email from the college saying that they were having a Kid’s Day at the Climbing Wall I signed him right up! I have never been to the wall and it said that each child must be accompanied by an adult so I wasn’t sure what the protocol was and if it was ok if we brought Babe too, even though I figured she couldn’t climb. The lady told me we should sign her up too just in case she wants to try. Great!

Bud was SO excited and Babe was excited because Bud was excited. We were all excited! Bud couldn’t stop talking about how awesome this was going to be and he was going to “zoom up the wall so fast!” I didn’t doubt it. He recently did rope climbing in gym class and he was the only one in the first grade to make it to the very top of the rope! So yeah, I figured he’d be awesome!

We got there and they took Babe first. They strapped her into the harness, and after a short discussion about the fact that they couldn't get her harness as tight as they normally make it, she started up the wall.

It's not your eyes, my camera skillz are a little rusty so some of these pictures are a little (or a lot) blurry.

I just love this picture! She's falling off the wall and yet she looks so graceful!

She was really giving it her all!

Last big hurdle!

She made it! 

(There was one more hold but she couldn't reach it no matter how hard she tried)

Proud girl!

Then it was Bud’s turn:

After seeing how easy Babe made it look he choose a harder wall to start with. He got himself up on the first level…and was stuck! 

He couldn’t get himself higher! The girl that was belaying him tried giving him rock climbing shoes but couldn’t find anything that really fit. I asked if he could climb barefoot because that’s usually how he does it at home (he has the most amazing monkey toes you’ve ever seen!) and she said it might hurt his feet a little but he could certainly try it.

That was better! 

He still struggled a little but having his shoes and socks off made a big difference!

Of course, since Bud had no shoes that meant that Babe needed to climb shoeless too!

(If you look just under Babe's left foot you can see all the pink tape. It was holding up a Staples "Easy" button. When you push it, it says "That was Easy!" I think that was Bud's favorite part of the whole day!)

She wasn’t a fan though and quickly came back down.

Definitely a good time

Good times!

Lily