Can anyone name that quote?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Well, I’ll leave it up in the air and you can discuss.  😉

So last week we went to church camp with our church’s young people and the two kiddos.  We had a fabulous time filled with friends, food, and fellowship.  Not only that but we got to try a few things we hadn’t before and have some neat adventures.  That being said, I’m a little battered and bruised from all the fun.

It started with a giant swing.  You read that right.  You get completely harnessed in for safety, including a helmet (although the helmet is not pictured here).

Once you are safely fastened to the structure you are then hoisted up very high in the air until you reach the top.  This is adventure by choice so you have to pull the release yourself (or make your husband do it if you’re a big weenie – thanks babe!  He he).  You free fall until the line catches you, then you swing back and forth until you slow down and are unhooked.

This is the structure.  There is actually another one across from it and you swing toward another couple of people.

If you know me, then you know that I couldn’t do anything 100% normally like every other person out there.  From the time I sat down I never felt good about where I was in the seat.  When we were pulled up I felt too far back and like I was off balance.  The countdown ended and Gabe pulled the release.  I found out that I am not a screamer in a free fall situation, I’m a teeth clenching grimacer.  We hit the bottom and started the upward swing, which definitely felt better.  That is until I fell off the back of the swing.  I FELL OFF THE BACK OF THE SWING.  Please reference the video to see my feet in the air and my head upside down.  Upside down.

That was an adventure to put it mildly.

After letting my stomach and nerves calm down, as well as eating a little lunch, it was time for another new experience.  Next up was the zip line.  I wish I had gotten more pics of it or some of us on it but I didn’t want to take my phone out in the woods for fear of dropping it.

To say it was AMAZING is putting it mildly.  We had to hike out through the woods in to a field.  We then got harnessed up again (see the above picture!) and had to climb a large telephone pole up about 30 feet.  Once up there we were harnessed to the zip line and just had to sit down and let go to swing high above our friends and end up back at camp.

This is a picture taken at the stopping point.  If you look off through the two poles you can see another two poles and a platform out in the distance.  That’s what we zipped off of to end up here.

I liked the zip lining SO much better than the swing for a lot of reasons.  I would have gone right back out and done it again if we had had the chance.  It was really neat to be so far up and just zoom right down.

All these adventures did come at a price.  Now to tie this all in to my title.  After camp was over I started noticing a few bruises on my body and within about a day I realized I was covered.  Here is a collage of just a few.

Aren’t they pretty?  Yep, every one of these came during our adventures at camp and they were all worth it.  I’m battered and bruised but I had FUN!