Taaake Ooon Meeee (Take on me!) Taaaake Meee Oooonn!!

Name that 80s song. (Come on, its really easy)

It's been a good while since this happened, but I just got around to feeling like posting. Cause I had lots of important things to do. Like cook dinner and watch movies and sleep. And Pin things.

I'm lazy.

ANYWAY, a couple weeks ago, Jason and I went on a double date with some charming friends who just got together. (we approve of this pairing!) We decided to be adventurous and go rock climbing!!! Wooo!!!!

Confession: I was pretty terrified before we actually got there. And then I was just scared. And then I started climbing and I got terrified again. But that's a story for a little bit later.

We had to wait for our belay class, so we started out with some Bouldering.  This is essentially rock climbing for which you don't need a harness or belaying device, or even partner.  All of the walls are pretty short and (in my completely uneducated in rock climbing things opinion) seems to require more skill and strength to maneuver than the walls do.  There is a tunnel where you are expected to be able to climb to the top upside down. UPSIDE DOWN! Here's Jason, to demonstrate:

Look, Ma! No Harness!

 And here's me, to demonstrate that I can at least get upside down even if I can't do anything else from there:

"Quick, quick, I'm slipping! I'll never manage this again!"

Finally, it was time to take our class. The four of us were in a class with three other couples (It was a 2 for one deal with the entrance fee, and also you have to have two people to do any sort of belaying). I don't mean to brag, but we definitely were super awesome and caught on incredibly quickly. For example, the guys ended up actually learning how to set up the belay device first while we girls scampered up a practice wall so they could figure out how it works. Afterwards, we switched and the teacher had us see what we could do on our own from having watched the guys. When we did it perfectly, she was very surprised and impressed. We're just naturals. No big deal. After we learned how to safely climb a wall, we were released into the wild rock jungle to climb to our hearts' content.

Jason is a pro. He had never been rock climbing before but his strength and agility made it very easy for him to scamper up walls. If there had been a button at the top, he would have smacked it every time.

I, however, more accurately represent the amateur class. The beginner class, really. I very consistently got about 3/4th up the wall and decided enough was enough, thankyouverymuch, and I would like to come down now. (When you're ready to come down, you yell "Take!" down to your belay-er and when he is ready for you to let go he will say "Take On!")

It wasn't so much that I was afraid of how high I was, but more of a combination of two factors:
1) The higher up you go, the sparser the foot/hand holds, which makes it a little more challenging to get to the top.  (Or so it seemed to me?)
2) After I got to my internal ceiling, I would have a sudden fear of slipping and falling to the ground. This is silly because Jason is a big, strong man and more than capable of making sure my rope is taut and locked so that I don't fall at all if I let go of the wall. But it was a mental thing that I found very hard to get past, because I can't FEEL him supporting me, I just KNOW he is.Hard to wrap one's brain around. Also, my hands would get shaky with adrenaline.

But I still had fun! I just had a ceiling to my fun. It contained my fun and made it even funner. Ha. So take that, Jason. My fun was more fun than your fun.

These are the kiddos whom we accompanied:

Hi! You're famous now! Just kidding, only my family reads this anyway.

All in all, we had a blast, got in a great workout, and generally sweated like pigs (wait, you guys didn't? oh..) and got smoothies afterwards. Pretty great double date if you ask me.

Look how tiny our feet look! These are magic shoes.

My whole body hurt for about a week afterwards.