Had an extraordinary adventure…
Made a marvelous memory…
And probably lost a few years off my life!
With a house full of testosterone (with 3 teenage boys), two rambunctious children and some searing heat I sought out some air conditioning where the kids could expend their pent up energy.
Safari Sam’s was beckoning…
Oregon’s largest indoor play structure caters to all ages – in my case 2 – 35 years old.
We entered the cool warehouse illuminated in black lighting and all 5 kids were off on their own adventure, scoping out the play structure and climbing to their hearts content. I quickly lost sight of Nico and eventually found him three stories up, crawling through tunnels, disappearing down a slide, blissfully bidding me hello (“Hi Mama! - Hi Mama!”) as he blurred past me onto his next discovery.
Hope immediately made a friend and together they ventured off to see all that the giant jungle gym had to offer.
The older boys were enticed by the black diamond track and set off to see if this expert course held true to their memories - reserved for the older and stronger explorers they were delighted to find it still elicited all the appeal and even some of the complexity as it did when they were much younger.
Encompassed in netting and completely padded it’s safe for all - kids can roam freely and parents can relax with a few coveted moments of free time using their free wireless.
But I was dared to attempt the black diamond course so I left my quiet post to demonstrate my strength. I barely made it over the big blockade (which is a requirement for even entering the black diamond course) so that should have been my first clue to back out and feign some sort of ailment… but no, I was off with something to prove. Hope made it through the black diamond course – shouldn’t I be able to?? My feet nearly fell of my body, searing with pain as I climbed up the netted rope. A few more obstacles found me panting and then down a rope I stopped to catch my breath. Uh oh, I just climbed down a rope… that means I have to climb up a rope… I am no longer that child who always completed the most chin-ups in PE – I can no longer lift my body even when using all the measly strength left in my arms. I was stuck! Riley offered me a boost me if I would admit defeat.
As if that wasn’t enough I was lured into a game of team tag. For the next three hours I ran, crawled, climbed and slid all throughout the jungle gym on my quest to either tag my opponents or flee from the seeker.
With the jungle gym nearly all to ourselves I would occasionally run past Nico hearing him yell “Hi Mama!” with sheer delight in his voice. I became completely absorbed in the sport, forgetting my age, snubbing my stiff joints, overlooking the broken fingernails and ignoring the pain as I flung my body under and over obstacles in a desperate attempt to hold my own in the game.
We reluctantly left when the gym closed for the evening (with Nico kicking and screaming for one more round through the climber). We were exhausted but exuberant – the boys delighted to find the jungle gym still enticing… and I was elated – a spontaneous dare found me reliving my youth and reminded me to live in the moment… a memory I will always cherish and an adventure I cannot wait to repeat.
I have no pictures but I have this gnarly bruise to prove my participation.
A game of team freeze tag at Safari Sam’s for Riley’s b’day, anyone??? Two taggers, the rest running for freedom, you can unfreeze your tagged teammate – if you can covertly reach them without being tagged. I dare you…
your dare is accepted. i cannot stop laughing at the picture of you in my mind leaping and bounding and panting through the course, living for a moment as a child, living in the moment as an adult. i'm in!
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