My nephews are in town to visit for two weeks. And being the coolest aunt on earth (let’s pretend that’s true, shall we?), I have been on a mission to entertain them while they are here.
Well, me and my mom. 😀
Let’s switch gears for a minute: my kids and my sister’s kids, are most likely the biggest video game/computer geeks you’ll ever meet via cybernet. These guys are so geeky they squirt binary code every time they walk.
I’m not trying to be cute, nor even derogatory, when I tell you this: it’s simply the truth. These kids would much rather spend their days with their faces glued to the TV/monitor screens than step one toe outside. In fact, I often mention doing something outside just so I can see the stark terror in their eyes – it amuses me. *grin*
Overall, this determination to live their lives through imaginary worlds doesn’t concern me (much), but to offer balance and to ward off any serious weirdness later on down the road, I do occasionally FORCE my boys to step away from their virtual reality and you know, join the rest of the human race.
Oh sure, they grumble, groan and are generally cranky with me whenever I step in and rip their imaginary personas away from them, but I think, deep down, in the core of their hearts and their very nerdy beings, they are thankful that I’ve forced them to come up for air.
At least, I tell myself that. *grin*
With my nephews in town, my mom and I wanted to do something with them other than look at the back of their heads as they frantically give their thumbs a work out. So, my mom came up with the BRILLIANT (again, not being sarcastic) idea of taking them rock climbing.
I’ll let you digest that bit o’ information before moving on. Picture this: The Revenge of the Nerds rock climbing. Isn’t that an amusing thought?
Now before anyone goes and gets the wrong idea, I’m treating their chosen past times with humor because truly, it’s who they are. It’s what interests them. They want to go on to college and become computer programmers and hey, who am I to stand in the way of them making boo-goo bucks, right? I mean, we all know the smart, nerdy, brainy types are the ones who (generally) go on and make something of their lives, right?
And my boys and my nephews certainly fall into the brainy category. Trust me.
But come on, what sort of mother would I be if I just stepped back and allowed them to disassociate themselves from reality? I’m constantly policing their online activities, making frequent and unannounced stops to look over their shoulders and see what they’re doing, or studying the minimized windows to make sure they aren’t doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
And I think we’ve struck a fairly reasonable balance, if you want the truth. As a result of my being “cool” about their activities, they don’t feel compelled to hide anything from me (at least, I hope they’re not).
But I’m simply not the type of personality that can step back and allow them to miss out on all the “real” world fun. So, we took all four boys out to lunch, to see the new Indiana Jones movie and then … rock climbing.
We took them to the Petra Rock Climbing Gym.
The boys got suited up …
(That’s my mom in the background documenting this momentous occasion)
And then stood back to stare in awe at the huge walls they were about to climb.
(Look at how skinny these boys are! I didn’t realize just HOW skinny my kids were until they got those harnesses on. I feed them! Honest!!)
The instructor (who I thought was sort of cute in a jail bait sort of way), spent a considerable amount of time trying to teach GD how to tie a fancy-smancy knot.
He never really got the hang of it.
After the boys were suited up, the older kids went off with the guy instructor and the younger boys went off with the girl instructor. MK and M started off on the beginner wall.
MK took to it like the monkey he is.
M had a bit more trouble, but after a few minutes, he got the hang of it.
GD scaled a more advanced wall in record time and rang the cow bell at the top. His self-satisfied smile down at me was WELL WORTH the effort of dragging his butt to the gym, trust me.
He also scaled back down like a pro, too.
After their initial success, all the boys decided to try a harder wall. MK and M went up the wall GD and A vacated with MK making it all the way to the top (but wouldn’t do it again because it was a bit too high for him) and M made it halfway up before getting too shaky and came back down.
The older boys tried to climb a sheer wall with very few hand/foot holds.
A nearly made it all the way to the top before he ran into some trouble and had to come back down.
GD, his testosterone on overdrive, attempted this wall.
Unfortunately, he was trying to climb not only up, but out, and that proved too difficult for him.
He had to give up after losing his hold several times and ended up swinging like a little lost pendulum.
Overall, all the boys did remarkably well. I suppose the desire to climb and conquer is instinctually embedded in their male brains. Either that, or they were pretending they were in one of their army video games.
*sigh*
(Note the military stance – and GD’s cranky I’m-tired-is-it-time-to-leave face. hehe)
The bottom line? They had fun (I think), they got some exercise and they slept really, really well that night. 😀
Who’s up for more fun with Aunt Karen? Hhmm?
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