"We're going to Dick's."
Alane noticed how much I enjoyed saying that; she heard me repeat it several hundred times in different tones and inflections.
I was looking for a Sports Authority, but they apparently don't have any locations out here. So I looked up this place instead. Alane told me Dick's was big (heh heh), and she was right -- a very large store, wide selection, very nice. Got the double-end bag I was looking for and I already have it set up in the attic. It's a great work-out: you hit the bag, and then you gotta move away fast because it'll hit you right back.Dick's also had rocks (heh heh) and for a small fee you could test your mettle on their giant climbing wall. None of us was interested -- except Cookie, who spotted it as soon as we walked in. So we took him over and got him signed up. They strapped him into a harness, he put on the climbing shoes, and then scampered up that wall like a friggin' monkey.
Look carefully at the photos and you'll see the dizzying heights of his chimpness.
Normally, you'd yell to a kid or a beginner to not look down. The idea is that seeing just how high you are would freak you out. Cookie didn't care. He looked over his shoulder, waved to us as he approached the top, fell away from the wall a few times fully confident that the harness would hold him and it did.That kid has no fear. This does not bode well for us, his parents.
He also has no modesty, so as we beat it from Dick's (heh heh), Cookie made much of his accomplishment, declaring: "I climbed that whole wall, and I'm only in kindergarten!" And we knew immediately what the topic of his classroom comments would be tomorrow.
Mojo, incidentally, did express an interest in trying a climb but was ruled to be just shy of the 44" height requirement. It's just as well. He would've gotten as far as strapping into the harness and freaked out.