The Climbing Tree

We have a tree in our front yard that the kids love to hang out in. Even though we have a trampoline, which they do love, I think they tend to spend more time playing in this one tree than anything else. Brooks, utilizing his knowledge of rope tying, gleaned from a survival book, tied a rope ladder (previously used on his bunkbed at our Hugo house), and made a swing from one of the seat cushions in the kayak, and rope rings (also used to hang in their room at Hugo house).

I had my doubts about these "knots" for sure. But, none have broken, and none have had to be retied. Which is actually shocking to me, lol. The survival book for the win!

The swing he made!

So one day, Brooks and Grey decide to climb the tree, and stand on the same branch. Brooks, rushing into the house says "A branch broke off the tree! We were almost crushed!" I go out to examine the damage, and it was a pretty skinny branch, broken off.

Once he explains to me what happened - I go into the mom lecture. "Why on earth would you stand on that branch? You and Grey together are 100lbs! That's as much as me. You've got to realize that that skinny branch can't support that much weight"
(Note: Mom's are allowed to under-exaggerate their own weight while making an exaggerated point to a young child. That is totally allowed)

But, apparently though he can figure out how to tie a knot, he doesn't really give much consideration to other things, like weight ratios of multiple people climbing all over skinny branches. It's why he still needs a Mom, right? :-)

They love the climbing the climbing tree! I'm so grateful for all the fun they have out there together. And all the valuable life lessons learned along the way too. Hopefully things they will not forget. Like, especially how much their mother weighs. ;-)