My Happy Birthday!

Mike, a couple of days before my birthday, told me that he had a surprise for me. I'm horrible with surprises!  I wanted to know what it was (he knew that and was eating it up that I wanted to know so bad).  He would give me hints and with each clue I was completely clueless.  For a while I thought we were going to the Play Mill, then I switched to Bar J Wranglers...because he said it came with a dinner.  That was the only thing I knew where dinner was included.  I also guessed Mountain River Ranch for that reason too.  For a while I thought the Teton Slide and then Zip Lining (I had a friend help me think of these two).   I didn't even know Heise had a zip line until she had mentioned it.  It sure wasn't there when I was growing up.

The morning of he told me what it was; zip lining.  I was so nervous but also so excited.  I have never zip lined.  At Lovell's Ranch they have a little homemade zip line and I have always been too chicken to go on that.  All day I was trying to gain the courage to go.

At 4:00 Mike told me to be ready to go.  Honestly, it was kind of hard to leave Kayzley for that long.  I'd be gone for at least 6 hours.  I had mentally prepared and wasn't going to let Mike down.  He had worked so hard to make this night happen and to make arrangements for our kids.  He tried so hard to make a surprise for me and to make my birthday special.

They helped us into our gear and then made us watch a video.  It was all of the things that you shouldn't do because you could end up with a broken arm or no fingers, etc.  I thought that the video was a little discouraging for some so chicken like me.

This was our sweet ride up the mountain.  They claim this is the most dangerous part of the whole experience.  Looking back on it now I think they're right.  It was kind of scary and not very sturdy.  It sounded like it had such a hard time going up.  The guides stood on the sides.  We had 8 in our group and 3 guides.

I was the last one to go on the first zip.  It was good that this one was the first.  It was pretty level with the mountain to start out and then gradually declined.  No one...not even one person screamed or even made a peek.  It took me a few minutes to decide that I would go but decided it couldn't be that bad judging by the reactions from everyone else.  I turned backwards and just let myself fall.  The driver of the four wheeler explained how we needed to hold on so that it wouldn't hurt our hands.  I know I would want to tense up.  So, I barely even hung on to the rope.  Going backwards was a good move.  I was nervous for the second zip as well.  The third one I actually enjoyed.  The fourth I was going to go forward but Mike wanted to record me.  Just in case it was scary or I did something embarrassing, I thought I would save it for the next zip.  It wasn't until the fifth that I finally went forward.  It was fun!  The whole experience was quite a bit different than I had imagined.  I expected more of an adrenaline rush.

See this petite girl?  This is the girl that stopped...let me rephrase it...that tried to stop Mike.  He ran into one of the guides full force.  It was better the guide then the pole behind him.  I almost wish I was recording that time.  It wasn't funny by any means.  It would be a good memory because we could look back and laugh.  Mike was a little nervous afterward.

This is the guy Mike had run in to.  They tell you that they will do all the work...to not worry, etc.  At first Mike would put his feet down and then they called him Fred Flinstone the rest of the time.  He was the heaviest one there so he would zip at Mach speeds.  Since he went before me I didn't understand until I saw it for myself when I finally went ahead of him and watched how he came in.  He said it hurt to run into him.  Hopefully, after this time they'll change things around and have someone a little bit bigger do the braking.

This guy did the best job.  He seemed like he knew what he was doing.  Then I learned that the person with the most experience has only been there for a week.  That was real comforting!  The one guy was in training.  Yikes!

I was confident with zip lining until we got to the towers.  We had to climb some stairs to the platforms to get there.  It was a little breezy.  The petite guide and a 10 yr. old boy doubled up because neither could make it my themselves.  It was a long zip.  They got to the other side and said for the guides sending us off to use their best judgment.  Everyone doubled up but I didn't want to double with Mike.  I knew how fast he went by himself.  I was comfortable with the speed I normally went.  I didn't want to go faster especially on one that was so long and so high.  Mike claimed that he was trying to help me out.  So he said, she can make it.  She's heavier than these other girls.  She weighs more than the girl and the boy that went first.  I was like, I know I just had a baby but I do not weigh more than them.  I know I'm not exactly small either.  I'd guess she was 115 lbs. and he was at least 85 lbs.  That's 200 lbs.  I don't weigh that.  I was a little offended.  I didn't have time to confront him since he zipped before me.  Well, it worked.  They let me go alone.  At the end, one of the guides, had to run with me going in and bring me in the rest of the way.  That made me feel better.  Without his help I wouldn't have been able to make it.  Mike said he knew he had said something wrong and accidently called me fat.  I'm glad he mentioned it before I could ask him about it.

This guy was the one in training.  Zipping took so long.  We got there at 4:45 and started at 5:00 or just after.  We didn't finish until 8:00.  Since I had left Kayzley I needed a place to pump.  While I was doing that Mike went down to the pizza parlor and redeemed our coupons.  We had some good pizza and a salad with a drink.  Then we went to the warm pools.  We thought the slide would be closed but it wasn't.  Mike went down the slides several times until he got annoyed with the kids trying to catch up to him.  They figured out a way to go faster so they would catch up to him quickly.  I thought it was too cold so I went straight to the hot pools.  Mike showed up not long after.

It was a good birthday and Mike did a super good job at making it different and special.  I love him so much for all he does and for always thinking of me.  He's so wonderful!  Being with him was the best part about my birthday!