Shawn is always a gift-giver. I guess some might say that is one of his primary "love languages." He loves to surprise me with fun things on a regular basis. The flip side is that I am the world's worst gift-giver. My idea of a great gift is a gift card. That way, you know it's not the wrong thing and the person will actually USE the gift you gave them.
So for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Valentine's Day, I have majorly been lacking as far as presents for Shawn goes. This anniversary I was determined to actually do SOMETHING for him.
Shawn is very athletic and likes to do physical stuff. My idea of physical stuff is going for a walk in the park. But I decided to branch out and do something I've never done before--rock climbing. I told Shawn that I was going to take him somewhere for our anniversary, but wanted to surprise him. Shawn teaches rope rescue and repelling, so he knows a lot about that sort of thing. However, he apparently has never been to a rock climbing gym.
My dear mother-in-law came to visit overnight so that she could watch the kids and we could get an actual date in. It was wonderful! A big thanks to her! When Shawn got home from work on Wednesday, I took him to Applebee's so that we could split a light dinner. Then we went back home to nurse the baby and grab some clothes to change into. I packed his bag, so he still did not know what we were doing. I had given him some vague clues in the past week, but he was still befuddled.
When we got to IBEX Rock Climbing Gym in Blue Springs, Missouri, he was really excited. It is definitely his sort of thing. Because we had never been there, we had to take an intro belay course before we started. The instructor told me when I called to schedule it that it usually took about an hour. We did it in about 30 minutes! It was basically going over knots and how to feed rope through the brake. Shawn can tie the knots they used with his eyes closed and with gloves on (literally! They made them do it that way when he was in the Marines). He has also had me practice those knots several times when he was prepping for teaching.
Okay, so rock climbing is WAY harder than it looks. But it is also a lot more fun than it looks (at least from my vanage point). It was a challenge to figure out where to place your hands and how to get leverage; figuring out what your next move would be. In that way, it is mentally challenging. It's amazing how quickly your arms can get tired doing it, though, and after a couple hours, both of us were pretty tired.
We took breaks in between climbs to watch other, more experienced climbers and to chat with other people in the gym. It was a nice atmosphere; laid-back and fun. All-in-all it was a great anniversary activity and Shawn was pretty happily surprised. He also said he was surprised how well I did. It was so fun and I would definitely like to do it again sooner rather than later.
Getting a kiss before dinner on our anniversary. You can see the roses on the table behind me that Shawn bought me for the occasion.So for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Valentine's Day, I have majorly been lacking as far as presents for Shawn goes. This anniversary I was determined to actually do SOMETHING for him.
Shawn is very athletic and likes to do physical stuff. My idea of physical stuff is going for a walk in the park. But I decided to branch out and do something I've never done before--rock climbing. I told Shawn that I was going to take him somewhere for our anniversary, but wanted to surprise him. Shawn teaches rope rescue and repelling, so he knows a lot about that sort of thing. However, he apparently has never been to a rock climbing gym.
My dear mother-in-law came to visit overnight so that she could watch the kids and we could get an actual date in. It was wonderful! A big thanks to her! When Shawn got home from work on Wednesday, I took him to Applebee's so that we could split a light dinner. Then we went back home to nurse the baby and grab some clothes to change into. I packed his bag, so he still did not know what we were doing. I had given him some vague clues in the past week, but he was still befuddled.
When we got to IBEX Rock Climbing Gym in Blue Springs, Missouri, he was really excited. It is definitely his sort of thing. Because we had never been there, we had to take an intro belay course before we started. The instructor told me when I called to schedule it that it usually took about an hour. We did it in about 30 minutes! It was basically going over knots and how to feed rope through the brake. Shawn can tie the knots they used with his eyes closed and with gloves on (literally! They made them do it that way when he was in the Marines). He has also had me practice those knots several times when he was prepping for teaching.
Okay, so rock climbing is WAY harder than it looks. But it is also a lot more fun than it looks (at least from my vanage point). It was a challenge to figure out where to place your hands and how to get leverage; figuring out what your next move would be. In that way, it is mentally challenging. It's amazing how quickly your arms can get tired doing it, though, and after a couple hours, both of us were pretty tired.
We took breaks in between climbs to watch other, more experienced climbers and to chat with other people in the gym. It was a nice atmosphere; laid-back and fun. All-in-all it was a great anniversary activity and Shawn was pretty happily surprised. He also said he was surprised how well I did. It was so fun and I would definitely like to do it again sooner rather than later.
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