Recently a local mall erected a ropes course for kids ages 3-16 under an outside pavilion. We thought it sounded fun, so one morning we piled ourselves into a taxi and headed to experience it ourselves. The little ropes course is pretty good. They put a harness and helmet on each kid, and the whole time they navigate the course they are attached to something (rail, cable or rope) to keep them from hitting the ground if they lose their balance. Also, since AB is pretty small a worker helped her through the entire course.
DB and I were strictly observers, but he thought it was all pretty groovy and is excited for when he is 3 years old and can do it too.
See the metal rail above AB? They attached her harness to a rope that runs along the metal rail. I was impressed by the attnetion they gave to safety. Sometimes in some parts of the world safety seems a bit like an afterthought, but at the Little Jungle ropes course, it took front seat.
Our helper dude did the course both forwards and backwards while helping AB. He was great with AB and I was impressed that he was wearing Merrells - made him seem professional since he was wearing actual climbing shoes, ya know for his serious climbing all over a kids ropes course. Gosh that sounded sarcastic. I really did like him.
See the kid to the left of KB in the picture below? He came up to KB and started fanning his nose behind him to indicate that KB smelled bad, like trying to make fun of him. I am not proud of it, but I gave him a little motherly stare down with my hands on my hips, amazingly he caught on and he went on his way pretending other people smelled. The whole thing was weird. I also asked myself, "where is his mother?" I quickly caught on that the workers were wondering that too as he terrorized everyone (except for my family after my fierce staredown) that morning.
Although my dreams of AB being a little gymnastics champ are quickly going away since I have yet to find a gymnastics school for normal kids (as opposed to the very serrious institutes run for future Olympians), I was excited to see my girl has some natural balance abilities and she was fearless.
Next she climbed this net thingy that went up to a second story platform.
I should mention her helmet was probably pretty ineffective since it was too big for her and it frequently just hung from the strap around her neck.
She even got into the habit of prepositioning her helmet mid-climb. See DB below AB looking up to her? At his insistence, later they let him try to climb, but he quickly learned it was scary and his legs and arms were just too short. Ultimately he did not make it more than 2 feet off the ground.
Next AB slid down this fireman's pole. Thankfully they attached her to a pulley and lowered her down since she did not quite get the holding and sliding part down.
There is a phrase in our Aisaneese language that literally translates to English as "add oil." It is meant to encourage people to continue in their efforts and to cheer them on. In the picture below I am almost certain I am saying "add oil" (in Asianeese) to encourage AB. All of you people who live overseas and understand this strange saying, feel free to laugh with me - you have done it too. All of you other people who think it is just weird, I give you permission to laugh at me. This also serves as another explanation as to why all of us who live overseas come back more and more weird every time we cross back into the USA. It is true. I am not denying it. Just keep on loving us whenever we overuse words like "convenient" and say crazy things like "add oil" to encourage others to greatness.
Did I remember to mention that not only was the helmet clearly made for a larger head but so was the harness? In their defense, both AB's head and body are quite a bit smaller than the average 3 year old.
Next AB moved on to a tight rope. Since she could not reach the balancing ropes to the side, a worker also had to help her cross.
There were people recording my daughter walking the tight rope. They were just random strangers who thought it was exciting enough to record it. I have been in Asia for almost 5 years now. As someone who has been here long enough, I am acclimated to this cultural difference, but do I still think it is strange to record someone you do not know doing something just because they are foreign?...yes.
Next they hitched AB's harness up to a zip line. She had absolutely no idea what was coming.
When my firstborn gets scared, for the most part she gets quiet, sometimes holds her breath and rarely screams. Basically I have no idea if she was scared, but she insisted on doing it again and again. She had to have liked it.
Afterwards we all headed over to Papa John's for a nice thin crust Chicken BBQ pizza. A great end to a great morning.
