Out On A Limb

Our dear Kaiden has an adventurous spirit. For those of you who know him, you know he is 9 going on 59. Although he is always talking about the next adrenaline rush, the reality is often very different and tears often ensue. We recently went on a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage. We stopped in Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Vancouver. Months before we even went on the cruise, Kaiden and I were perusing the cruise documents and he decided we all needed to go on a zipline adventure. Eric and I were game, but convincing my in-laws (who accompanied us on the cruise) might take some doing. Like any good parents, we had the grandchild call to butter up Nana and grandpa for the big excursion. After some clever persuasion on Kaiden's part, we were "all in".

Mostly by nature, and partly as a result of being the only female in my immediate family, there are not many extra-curricular activities that I won't try at least once. I try not to let my boys see me sweat too often! They already think males are the dominant sex and believe me, I do everything in my power to combat that mentality.

This little ziplining adventure was in the rainforest and rain it did. We were not deterred though. After getting in our safety gear, we were taken in a monster truck up to the the first platform. The highest platform was 135 ft. off the ground and the average speed while zipping was 35 mph. We went as fast as 43 mph. We all had a blast from the getgo, except for...Kaiden. He was scared beyond belief after his uneventful first zip. You see, Kaiden tends to overanalyze things and as a result, freaks himself out and makes himself miserable. He watches a lot of Discovery Channel type programming and knows a little about a lot of stuff. Once he was standing on the platform, high above the ground he logically concluded that the platform should not be able to suspend all of us safely at that height. He neglected to take into account the fact that we were tethered on in several locations and were extremely safe and...he cried hysterically.

Being the cruel mom that I am, I would not let the guides give Kaiden an "out". I figured if we were all on this outing at his request, I wasn't going to let him back out. I insisted that he continue with the adventure until the end, just like the rest of us. Our guides were real troopers and quickly came up with an acceptable solution for Kaiden. One of them would clip onto the line directly behind him and essentially, they would go down the zip in tandem. Kaiden was o.k. with this, and much to his dismay, he ended up having a good time (just like I knew he would)!

Guess what...the ziplines didn't break, none of us fell and the platforms didn't even give way. When all was said and done, we were drenched, but we were still smiling. We all had a good time and I think we would all probably do it again if the opportunity presented itself.