With school starting 📚 I took a look at the clothes that they would be wearing and found that most of the pants that still fit them are destroyed from the summer. So we had to go out shopping and they don't like that very much unless it's for a presents and toys.
So it was off to the mall! The reward for being good would be trying the new climbing place, located in the middle of the mall. It's called "High Park Aero" or if you flip adjectives like in most other sentences, maybe a good translation would be Aero High Park.
It is hard to get a shot of how many things there are in the place. What struck me was the big read spider web. It was the first thing that I saw as not dangerous. The photo did not show it as striking at all. But I could not get any closer than the entry tunnel so I took the picture from there.
Parents are not allowed in! That is a hard pill to swallow. Still, they have people there to outfit and teach the kids how to be a mountaineer.
Safety first!
So I moved back out and walked around to see one of the kids being fitted for a helmet. I suppose it is best that they are told what to do by a stranger, one that knows how it needs to be done. There are metal hooks they need to use to keep from falling too.
The only solid place to stand s in the corners of the structure.
This is the barrier that they have set up to keep mom's out! Cruel but not impenetrable. The second I see blood, I will be in there! Nothing happened to them except smiles all day, Thank God.
They are so little but the safety straps and hooks are huge. I think the equipment they are using is for adults. The kids are handling it pretty well though. The staff are all over the place and willing to help.
Even I am not able to see how the metal ring gets past the parts where the safety wire is attached! The kids have it down though.
Green Arrow
The part I keep hearing about, along with pleas to go back and do it all again, is this one. Traveling from one end of the mall to the other, suspended over it all (no safety net - eek) he streaked through the sky (mall) starting from the second floor all the way to the target! "And I wasn't even scared!" is all I keep hearing.
So they have some new pants and all the supplies they need for school. We had a good time during the last part of the day as you can see. The clothes part was nearly complaint-free because they saw the promised reward before walking to the store. I think all the build up and waiting also helped the little one get up the nerve to deal with the teaching and instructions from a stranger.
The next time I ask, "Do you want to go to the mall with me?" will be greeted with much more enthusiasm than usual. I heard the kids talking last night and one of the sentences began with, "The next time we need clothes, I'm gonna..."
New clothing is now linked to fun in their minds. That, my friend is the stuff of super heroes!