Have you ever been to an indoor climbing gym? I went once, about a year ago, with the family and it was a lot of fun. Terrifying and nerve-wracking at times, but fun.
Of course, Buddy was in heaven during that first visit, which isn’t surprising, since he was always a climber, even as a toddler. I can’t tell you how many times I would walk into the kitchen and find him perched precariously on top of the counter. Even now, if he sees something he can climb – a rock wall, a tree, the top of the monkey bars – he will try to scale it.
Since it had been awhile since we last when climbing, we made it a family adventure this past weekend and headed into the city to Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville, Mass.
The place isn’t just huge, it is massive. The entire building is 40,000 square feet and they have 25,000 square-feet of climbing space.
We met Alex, who was going to be our private belay for 2 hours, and headed inside. Buddy, naturally, volunteered to go first, and up he went!
I went next, followed by Dr. G.
And on and on we went, Alex expertly managing the top rope and shouting out help when we were stuck on the wall and didn’t know what to do next. (“Move your left foot up to that green rock!” or “Try grabbing that yellow rock with your right hand!” he would advise.)
We gradually increased the difficulty of the walls we climbed, going higher and higher as our confidence grew and as we got the hang of it again. As someone who’s not fond of heights, I was proud of myself for getting as high as I did and not freaking out! It’s funny; rock climbing is not something I would have ever expected to like, but there’s something about the challenge of it — along with the physicality — that I’m kind of drawn to.
However, I was a little nervous about bringing Mimi with us, since she is obviously too small to climb, but it ended up working out well. Because we each climbed individually, there was at least one parent available to keep an eye on Mimi, who thankfully discovered their selection of hula hoops and a really cool sidecar swing contraption that she could sit in.
There was also an enclosed lounge area with kids’ books, video games, etc., and they even had a space for birthday parts (a fact that did not go unnoticed by Buddy).
I wish we lived closer because I could see us going there a lot, but either way, I’m so happy we discovered an activity we can (almost) all enjoy as a family. I can’t wait until Mimi can join us!
After rock climbing, we changed and headed down to Cambridge to a kid-friendly restaurant I’ve been dying to try called Full Moon. Not only was the menu interesting, with vegetarian-friendly meal options, but there were a ton of kids’ choices and …. drumroll please … beer and wine. AND a playspace in the restaurant for the kids. Of course, this all meant that the place was jammin’ by 5:45pm on a Saturday night. But it was worth the wait and we all enjoyed a yummy meal.
And yes, my muscles are still sore from climbing, four days later. Ouch.
What’s your favorite family activity?
Disclaimer: We received a free, two-hour private belay but was not obligated to write a review. We just had a really great time!
Dollops of Diane says
I did this once about 10 years ago (really? that long ago?!). It was fun but hard work!