Monday, August 16, 2010

Zip!










Here are some photos of our adventures last week on a zipline tour with friends in Door County, Wisconsin.


The bad news is I tried to upload a short self-video of my turn doing "The Vomit Comet," but am sad to report (although you may be relieved to find out) that the video would not upload to the blog.

The good news is that I will tell you all about it anyway! The shaky video started out with some goofy and unfortunate angles ("Hello, Cleavage!"), but it became pretty silly and not too vertigo-inspiring in the end.

Essentially, I got tossed off the edge of the precipice by two people who sent me spinning. I am here to tell you after two Vomit Comets that it was SO MUCH FUN to literally spin through the woods, and that I did not vomit nor end up in flames even once. But I was a little dizzy. So there you go.

Anyway, ziplining through the trees is quite a rush and is now one of our family's favorite things to do while on vacation in our favorite part of Wisconsin!


Alex takes off on The Vomit Comet!

Zip Daddy goes upside down!

The guides told us to give a yell when we were ready to go. "For Narnia!!!" was wildly popular. We also liked to give a shout-out to Little Orphan Annie in her scary chase scene: "PUNJAB -- HELP ME!!!"










But wait! There's more!

We liked the zips that we did with our friends so much that we signed up to do it again later in the week with our family.


Little did we know that some of them (names withheld to protect the acrophobic) were a bit more afraid of heights than we remembered. Uh oh.

But everyone bravely zipped along, and all's well that ends, well, with a ZIP (and/or a "death grip")! "Never fear, Punjab will catch you! Ah ha ha ha ha. Buddha says, 'A child without courage is like a night without stars!'"





An added bonus of this crazy experience is that now everyone (including the teacher among us) has a great inspiration for a personal essay for the first days of school, even if one or two of them are entitled, "The Day My [Sister/Aunt] Pushed Me Off the Top of a Tree!"

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Escape

Escape the heat with some cool water, Lake Michigan's Green Bay.



Egg Harbor sunset




Peace



Deep, glassy water near Chambers Island




Happiness

Friday, August 6, 2010

Lily Lake, Colorado, 7 am, 8/6/09

Rising early to enjoy our last morning in Estes Park, Colorado.

Learning to row a boat.

Following where the ducks take us.

Sharing peaceful, joyful moments. Ahhhhh.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The makings of a very good day

Join me in following Alex's footsteps throughout August 5, 2009, as he demonstrates how to have one spectacular day!

First, get up early for a hike with your friends and family.







Ford a stream.








Recreate a scene from National Treasure 2.







Climb rocks.








Be awed by Alberta Falls.











Go all the way to the top!








Pose with your family to make your mom happy (and flash your best smile, which makes her extra happy!).









Next, venture out on a log into Bear Lake.







Then, ride horses with a real cowboy through an aspen tree forest.







Catch some air while learning to kick that horse into gear!







Pull around the lake, back to the ol' homestead.







Pose with the cowboy and all the guys to make your mom happy (again).






Get Pops to bait a hook for you at the trout farm.










Seconds later, catch a trout and pull it in!







Be proud of your fish.











Congratulate your fishing partner on a job well done (or at least very easily done!).






Get momentarily distracted chasing a yellow-bellied marmot. (It's at the base of the flagpole with the red banner.)






Watch with manly fascination as the trout you and your friends caught...






...get measured...








...and gutted.








Call over the dads to watch this with you.











Ignore the disgusted womenfolk nearby.








Read a few pages of your Harry Potter book on the way to your friends' cabin.






Play Ninja Arrow Crossing with your buddy.







Take a break from playing in the river to show off your catch again!








Try to be patient for dinner to be ready.







Sit down to savor the meal with Pops!







Dig in!











Decide and declare that your new favorite food is and forever will be fish!






Make up and play a goofy game that involves shooting pennies across the table and a lot of laughter.






Call over Pops to make the game even goofier and to throw in an end-of-the-day story.






Sleep tight with memories of the day's adventures.