BUT, this weekend we have a whole day with nothing to do, and last weekend we went to Camp Windermere with the youth group, so I've got some cool pictures! We did the same thing last year, but it wasn't quite the same for me since I was about 8 months pregnant at the time- not a lot of rock wall climbing/zip lining for me last year! :) The Edge is such a cool experience, though. For a quick review, you start off with the "low ropes," which are some team building, trust activities. Then you have lunch, and come back for The Rescue, which involves putting one of your group members in a gurney and then the rest of the group has to get the gurney (and themselves) across this obstacle course of round logs and platforms without touching the ground, and then from a tall platform across 15 feet of open space into the "helicopter landing pad," again without touching the ground. Last year our group worked for a very frustrating 2 hours, and didn't make it. This year went MUCH better, though! They actually made it all the way, and with only 3 "blind" people (if something went wrong or someone fell off, they had to put a blindfold on and be led the rest of the way. Anyway, after The Rescue, you have a break for a couple of hours (we went swimming), then you come back for the high ropes course: rock walls, tightropes, zip lines, leap of faith, and the giant swing. It's an EXHAUSTING day, but it is so much fun, and really helps develop the relationships and the trust between members of our youth group. Although, this year, we had several new kids along on the trip, so it was more a great opportunity to get to know them! And they jumped right in, so, all in all, it was a great experience! And, now for the pics...
The first "low rope" activity- The Skateboard. You have to stand everyone on this board, then reorder yourselves without anyone stepping off. All of the low rope activities push you to get out of your comfort zone by putting you "up close and personal" with the rest of the group- like Heather and Jordan, here! Our leader threw an extra wrench in this one- no one could talk!
Waiting to finish directions on the second activity- the spider web. Gotta love my siblings (and James, who typically acts like a brother anyway), there was this really great shot of the 3 of them sitting on the bench and looking at the guy giving directions, so when I tried to get the picture, they started making a game of turning and staring at me right when I was taking the picture. So I have about 6 pictures where one or the other of them is staring right at me. This is my favorite, though... totally Charlie!
On Mountain Tops- you have to move the whole group from one platform to another without touching the ground, with only these two boards. In this case, the guy blindfolded 3 of us right away and gave us "helpers" (mine was Sean, the guy who is leading me across). Then he made it so only 3 or 4 people could talk, and even when they did talk they had to sing... some pretty horrible singing as a result of that! :) The best part of this activity was that Josh had to make an animal noise every time anyone said the word "board" (they were supposed to call them skiis). Well, this wasn't much of a handicap- they said (or, rather, sang) "board" all the time just so Josh had to make some kind of animal noise! We got the activity done pretty quick, though!
Now, on to The Rescue! This is everyone at the very end, trying to get from the platform to the landing pad with the two boards. The landing pad was about 15 feet away, and the boards were about 10 feet long. So they stuck one board out, then they were using the rope to guide the second one to be on top of it. When they got it there, they tied the rope to the landing pad and the pole in the middle of the platform. Then they slid the gurney across using clips and straps. Pretty good solution, I thought!
Sliding the gurney in!
Ruth did NOT trust the boards to hold... not that I can blame her, I don't know if I would have either! But, she made it across!
Charlie, James, Josh and I didn't take part in The Rescue, so Charlie found a good place to rest and watch!
After The Rescue and a swimming break, we came back for the high ropes. I don't have many good pictures because I was doing the course, but here's one of Josh and some of the youth on top of the tower, waiting to zip line down.
Since I didn't get to do it last year, I really wanted to make it to the top and zip line down this year. I did make it to the top, but not like I wanted to. I wanted to climb the rock wall, but I got about halfway up and my hands wouldn't hold up anymore. Ever since I had that lupus when Josh and I were dating, my hands have not been very strong. So, that was a bummer. Next time, I'm going to try the tight rope instead.
Anyway, it was a great trip, until the trip home! We got pizza and ate at the ropes course before we headed back to Columbia. Well, at about Eldon, the bus broke down... RIGHT (and I mean, right) in front of the 'gentleman's club' that's in Eldon... neat. So, here we sit on the side of the road, with "Earth Angelz" next to us, neon flames in the window, spotlight on the roof, the whole nine yards. We had to wait about 2 hours until someone could come rescue us, so we didn't make it back to Columbia until about 1:30. But, other than that, we had a great time! And we'll definitely always remember it now! :)
