Climbing trees and eating treats

I know, I know - it's been two weeks since I've last posted. What can I say? Time gets away from me sometimes.

Last weekend we went to AMC's Annual Retreat at Camp Oro Quay in the Monzano Mountains. It was a good time. Saturday morning we talked about the Enneagram and where we are on the circle. The Enneagram is sort of a personality guide but more about how you respond to situations. It's best used as a way to understand yourself and grow spiritually. I find it interesting and hopefully knowing that I'm a 7 will help me mature in all the ways I need to (although one of the 7's descriptions is Magical Child - which I try to live up to as often as possible).

We also participated in the ropes course - which I at least enjoyed thoroughly. Besides a couple of group activities which included walking across a low log bridge and swinging on a rope from one "island" to another over a river of evil chocolate - if you touch it there are dire consequences - there was a climbing wall, a high log bridge and a rope bridge. I elected to only do the log bridge section since that was my favorite last year. And because I wasnted to find out if I was in any better shape this year. When I tried it last year I thought I was going to die from climbing the extremely tall Ponderosa Pine. I could barely breathe. Besides not being in shape, I think I hadn't fully adjusted to the altitude - or drank enough water. This year I climbed the tree no problem. The guy on belay - the one holding the ropes that kept me from falling - said I was really fast. That made me happy. I wasn't as fast as one of the guys that works there. He can climb the tree, walk across the bridge and rapel down in 14.2 seconds. That's really, really fast. Kate & Liane also did the log bridge while Eric & Tim did all three climbing options.

In the evening there was a talent show with some very interesting acts. Tim also shared his guitar playing skills and we learned about wizard rock - songs that have to do with the Harry Potter stories. We also had some science lessons that I'm pretty sure should not be tried at home - or anywhere that fire or injury may occur.

To top the day off, we sat around a campfire and had s'mores. It was Liane's first one - and maybe her last. She thought they were very sweet which to me is the whole point of s'mores.

It was a very fun weekend - and tiring. I think we all took naps when we got home on Sunday. Luckily we didn't have to go to work the next day since it was Labor Day. Here are more photos from the weekend.