Ropes Course

All the YM and YW with their leaders at the end of the long day.

Evan jumping for the ball.

Whoo hoo!

Derek trying to talk his friend Tyler into jumping off the Leap of Faith with him.

Horsing around with the graduating seniors. We're going to miss them!

Teamwork, fellas!

"Let's DO this!"

"Fire power!"

Derek on the pamper pole blindfolded.

Evan listening to instructions while wearing his fake nerd glasses (3D movie holdout).

Happy to get his adrenaline fix.

Hollah! YW in the house!

Evan dangling from a wire 30 feet up.

Derek and Tyler on the Leap. You can hear Tyler yell, "Oh my gosh, I hate this!" My kid is saying, "This is awesome! Mom! I want one for the yard!!!" Then followed by, "Dude, let go of me. Don't hold me, Tyler!" Tyler says, "I don't care! I'm GONNA hold you!" The cameraman is our YM's president and Tyler's dad. Toooooooo funny.

Right before school started, we youth leaders decided to take all the kids down to Salem, Oregon, for a ropes course. For those of you who don't know what that is, this is the one we went to : http://www.ywamsalem.org/salem-ropes/ and here's a description:

"a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground. High elements are usually constructed in trees or made of utility poles and require a belay for safety."

Yup. That about sums it up! We were hoping to do something as a group to bind our kids together as friends so they got to know each other better as well as help them get to know their leaders better. I DETEST heights and I'm not too fond of obstacle courses, so this was clearly out of my element. But I went and with gusto! We divided the kids into teams based on age. It was a great experience! Derek proved to be a complete idiot by not backing down from ANY challenge and often did the ones 30-40 feet off the ground either repeatedly or blindfolded! Evan only punked out on one part of the course. It is called the Pamper Pole. It is 30 feet high and when you're up there you wish you had a diaper on. Evan climbed back down. It's the swaying of the pole up there that gets you. I conquered my fears and did it! Of course, Derek came along and did the PP and then did it again blindfolded. Show off. Most of the other boys wouldn't do it. The creme de le creme was the Leap of Faith. You climb a 40 foot tower and then bungee jump off into the woods. Unbelievably scary. Evan, by then, had decided no obstacle was going to be missed. He jumped off. So did I! Derek did it together with his best buddy, Tyler, and then did it again by himself--BLINDFOLDED! He's such an adrenaline junkie. Too funny.