Reunion part 2

So after breakfast, skits, and pictures, but before lunch and the lake, we went and did some confidence courses. They were a ton of fun! The pictures are a little out of order. We first went to one where there was wire hooked from tree to tree and we had to cross on the wire without touching the ground. It took a little while and we had to try a few times with tips from the worker but we made it.

Next we did the zip line. Then we gathered around a rope that hung down from two trees. We had to pretend that we were on a sinking ship and we had to cross acidic, shark filled water to get to an island for safety. The island was a door mat, and we all had to fit. It was a lot of also. The big men in our group caught the ones who came across and only a few of us lost our feet :-)

This was the zip line. You can sort of see the ladder on the left side of the pic. It was a rope ladder that you had to climb up then walk across the boards and meet the girl waiting for you. Then she clipped you onto the zip line and down you go. Here's a tip about me I am SUPPER afraid of heights. Not pass out or throw up afraid, but huddle up in a corner and cry my eyes out for my mommy kind, I almost did just that. I was so slow going up. They all kept asking if it was hard to climb the ladder and I said not physically, but about 3/4 of the way up I started shaking, big time. I didn't stop until I got to the bottom.

Not the most graceful picture of me. The girl asked if I want to sit on my bum and slide off the edge to go down I said "no, I am going to just jump off, but give me a minute" then I closed my eyes took a big breath and jumped. I was so glad when my feet touched the ground. But I did it. This was a HUGE thing for me to do!
Titus went down a few minutes after me..well up, then down... and he did awesome! He scaled right up walked across and went down. He probably did it in half the time I did.
Todd went down, but I didn't get a picture as always he was nothing but brave and he said he had a lot of fun. TC climbed up the ladder and he did awesome also! He caved about 3/4 the way up the ladder and couldn't do it anymore. He was scared to death! I kept looking at him thinking that's how my face must have looked. He cried when I wanted to! We tried encouraging him to go up the rest of the way, but fear won out. I do NOT look down on him for doing that at all! I can remember doing the same thing when I was younger. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't do it. The workers tried to get him to let go of the ladder, put his hands on the knot in front of him which was on the rope that he was hooked to to be lowered down. He wouldn't do it. That ladder was his safety. Then Uncle Jim tried to coax him down. TC almost did it for him, he wanted to trust him so bad, I could see it in his face. He would let go of the ladder with one hand, think about it, then grab back on to the ladder. One of my cousins called Todd over (who was down helping at the ladder that got people off the zip line) and he came up. Todd looked TC right in the eyes and told him that he had to trust dad, and to let go of the ladder hang on to the rope and he would be safely let down. TC did it. He kept his eye on dad and he did it.

I will admit I was crying. I cried when TC did, for him. I ached that I couldn't go up there hang onto my baby and carry him to safety. If there was a lesson learned that day it was that I had to let him do something on his own. I couldn't rescue him, but with the right guidance he was able to come down. That is life and there is so much meaning in it for me.

This was another part of the day that I really enjoyed and will remember for a long time.