Mum Takes on the Trees of Hsinchu

Cold wet weather has kept the boys indoors a lot recently. Craig has spent some of his time looking for new places to practice his climbing skills. He's found a new spot right next to the front door. He can climb much higher than he has in this photo but Dad likes to stay close by when he does.

On one rare dry day, Graham went for an afternoon stroll through the surrounds of Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. It was good to be outdoors for a change.

Last Sunday, there was another trip to Hsinchu so that Craig could take on the university campus trees again. The weather was much warmer than the first time.

Unfortunately, Craig got stuck on the same problem as last time. He needs to work on untying or loosening knots. After showing a lot of persistence in his first attempt two weeks ago, he lost confidence quite quickly this time.

Perhaps needing to get up very early to take the train affected Craig but it didn't trouble his Mum. She'd said she wanted to have a go last time but there were too many kids. This time she was straight into a harness as soon as she was offered a chance.

She had a little bit of trouble getting going.

Then, the coach came over to give some advice.

But she seemed to be quite happy.

Craig stayed nearby to see if he could help.

However, even with Craig's help Mum kept banging into the tree trunk.

The rope Mum was on was not just close to the trunk, it took her up into some branches. It was all a bit inconvenient.

So, when she was offered a second opportunity on a different rope, Mum was up it like a shot.

This time she climbed really high.

So high that the camera had trouble finding her.

Dad also had a go but none of the photos came out looking any good at all. This is the best of a bad bunch.

Before they left, Craig had his picture taken with the coach. The boy had fun but will need to practice his rope skills before he tries again.