Rockclimbing

      Thursday afternoons have been Rockclimbing Day the past couple of months.  A local climbing business gave homeschoolers discounts for climbing during school hours on Thursdays.  A van load (or two) of kids would drive into Madison each week to try this new sport.  Here are some shots of the kids in action:

 Sylvia would very carefully study out a route.

 She didn't like going too high... but enjoyed exploring the width of the walls.

 Ephraim was excited by all the ropes to try to stand up with.

 Sylvia thought he should try a wall, but I think there must be a minimum age someplace in the rules.  Maybe next year...

 Asher was great at getting to the tops of the walls, and thought adding some competitive speed challenges next time would be fun.  (The girl belaying him in this picture is an amazing climber.. and would probably waste him, but it would be fun to see them try to out do each other.)

 I was surprised that Mattias would enjoy this sport.  He did great picking out routes and trying different walls.  He is very determined.

   It was a fun building to climb in... lots of space with different options.  My kids haven't quite got the arm strength yet to do overhangs, but they had fun watching other climbers who could do them. 

      The kids had fun doing something different with their friends.  As a mom, I am thrilled to have found a good activity to burn off their energy during the long Wisconsin winters!  We look forward to starting up again next winter. 






 

Asher's 16th Birthday

     Sylvia and I attempted making "cake-balls" for Asher's birthday cake.  After seeing several tennis cakes on pintrest using cake-balls for tennis balls, I thought I'd do the same.  I watched a you tube tutorial on how to make cake-balls (coating balls of cake crumbs with dipping chocolate)  and thought "no problem".   (After seeing the  ensuing carnage, Mattias later informed me that there is a website for "pintrest fails", which made me burst out laughing.)

 Sylvia was a great sport.  She squished the dollops of frosting into the crumbs with her bare hands.  After much trial and error, we had a few balls that looked like tennis balls, if you had a good imagination, and lots of balls that were just plain ugly... and would need to be eaten quickly.  Luckily, we had other family members around to assist.

 The cake turned out ok... but I feel like the ease at which the you tube tutorial showed making the cake balls was a bit misleading.  I seem to be queen of clumpy cake balls.  (But, they did taste good.)

That afternoon, I went to Madison to pick up Asher from a tennis tournament, only to arrive just as he was being sat down at a table, with coaches huddled around him and a large wad of tissues packed against his nose and face.  Yes, he got hit in the face with a tennis racquet on his birthday, and split the skin on the bridge of his nose open enough to require stitches.

After a visit to the local hospital, where the nurses got him a cupcake from the hospital cafeteria, and signed him a card... he returned home for his long awaited party.

 It was a pretty tame party.  Friends came over to our house after the local canoe race to polish off some cake and icecream and then go wander downtown to see what festival activities were still going on.

Other than seeing clumps of giggling girls, and loud teenagers hollering.. not much was happening, so they returned back to our house and listened to their parents discuss exciting subjects such as goal setting for homeschoolers and 4-H clubs.

 Even though it may not have been the perfect 16th birthday.. we are glad to have good friends to celebrate with... and a wonderful teenage boy who can still smile at the end of a very long day.   - And we had cake balls!  What more could we ask for?