If you said that 6 hours of belaying would fly by, I’d say you were crazy. But when you’re belaying athletes who are pushing their limits at 30 & 40 & 50 feet, and loving it, the time goes by quickly. A lot of goals were reached and surpassed today in the high ropes. It was great to watch a nervous 12 year-old go from dreading the leap of faith trapeze jump, to begging me for one more jump. Jimmy and Josh did the Dangle Duo blindfolded. No mean feat, as it requires teamwork to succeed. Part way up, Josh was trying to figure out exactly where they were and asked Jimmy about it. Jimmy’s response, “I can’t see Josh, remember?”
On the other side of campus the kids were learning both physical and mental skills. Mentally, they were practicing Start Routines to work on getting calm and focused in the starting gate. Physically, they were working hard on strength, power and agility. Just ask them to teach you a slow, backwards tuck walk uphill when they get home.
Since everyone was hot we decided to try and beat out the impending storm and walk to the pond for a quick dip. Quick it was because after 4 minutes of refreshing water fun, the thunder started and we were outta there. Dinner followed and it was everyone’s favorite – Taco Tuesday!!!
After dinner it was our first rotation of Rock Wall climbing, cooking, and Swedish Dodgeball. The field was wet after the rains so the dodgeball games were better than ever. Sophie and Nicole lead the charge up the Rock Walls encouraging everyone. And in the kitchen, the group focused on the right measurements of the right ingredients while cooking the Pumpkin & Squash Donuts. As soon as Jamieson walked in to the kitchen, he said, “I smell disaster.” Only one batch turned out to be a disaster, which we threw out. (Apparently there was a measuring complication with the baking powder.) The rest of the healthy donuts were quite tasty and devoured in seconds after our dorm meeting this evening. The successful donuts must have been due to the guidance and expertise of our special kitchen showgirl, “Miss Donut”. During Miss Donut’s special appearance, she was interviewed by Judge Shaw who asked her how she would bring about World Peace. Her reply? “More donuts!”
Tomorrow is mtn bike day in Rutland at the Pine Hill Park trails.
