Rock Climbing

A few weeks ago, we visited my sister Rachel and her husband Dan. We always have fun when we visit them. They have 5 beautiful children (no really, you should see their baby Adam...I just want to put him in my pocket) who are extremely playful. Brian always ends up wrestling with my nieces and nephews whenever we visit any of my siblings, which gives me plenty of time to talk. It's a nice arrangement.

Dan is an optometrist. He owns a practice in their small town. Above his practice is a storage space. This space came with his practice, so he used it for storage for a while. A few months ago, he came up with another idea: a rock climbing wall! Dan is from Salt Lake City, near which are several great climbing places. He grew up climbing, so living in a shale and slate-ridden state has made climbing pretty impossible for him since he moved to NY. The ceilings in that storage space are 17' tall, so there's plenty of room for climbing; more than I can handle anyway. I took the pictures while the kids and Brian climbed. The exposure is totally messed up in these pictures, but here they are:

 This is my nephew climbing. He just loves it. He climbs up the corners of their home every chance he gets, so it was no surprise that he made it farther than me.

 This one is just impossible. You literally had to cling to that overhang like a frog/monkey/insert a wall clinging animal here. Brian managed it pretty well. We're excited for warmer weather so that we can really attack this.

 Here's another nephew rocking it on the incline. I swear they must have spiderman fingers or something.

 Here's my beautiful sister Rachel doing the climb. I was there to hold her adorable infant so she could climb...I think I got the better end of the deal there.

 Isn't that great! You can climb to the sun!

It was loads of fun. It's not insulated up there though, so I quit after a while and retired to the wood stove in their home. I think in another life, climbing would be a favorite hobby. But alas, I live in NY, where the closest real natural climbing wall is 4 hours away. So, I'll settle for hiking, canoeing, swimming, etc...I don't have it so bad.