Nathan, the Climber

Of course, my blogging skills stink... so these pictures are in the reverse order of how I wanted them, so you might want to go to the bottom of the post and work your way up. Just for the record, this is not the redwood tree where Nathan first made his mother's heart beat wildly as she spotted her six year old lounging at its top. (Thank you Timothy Erickson[a bit of sarcasm here] for introducing your rope, the thrill of the climb, and the agony of the mother who wants to let her son soar yet yearns to protect him from the possible fall.)This shot was taken by Rachel and is a little blurry, having strained our lens. Nathan is at the very top of the tree here with prize in hand. Later, he casually mentions to me how difficult it was to reach and grab the pinecone and how he made a quick grab for it, because the branch he was on was bending under his weight. These words bring no comfort to his mother.

Almost, there .... the mother's heart is beating rapidly at this point.

Still, climbing... his mother's heart beats a little faster.

The most challenging part of the climb is getting to this point. From here up, it's like climbing a ladder. One day when I was walking, I noticed a teenage boy trying to show off to the girl he was with. He was unable to reach this point. I smiled to myself, thinking of his embarrassment if Nathan had been there and he'd been shown-up by an 8 year old.
These trees stand in the park by our house where I like to go walking. Since he was born, Nathan has been accompanying his mother here, first in a stroller, more recently on his bike (the red one at the base of the tree.) On our last outing he decided to once again climb this very tall pine tree. (To add perspective, Rachel is on her bike by the base of the tree.)