Adam vs Rope Swing

So the here's the story behind the rope swing.

When we were living here the last time we took a trip to Hahei with Sheri and her boys.  On one of the days we walked down to the other end of the beach where there's a really big rope swing.  You have to climb up the side of the rocks to go on it.  The boys all got up to have a go on it and then it came to Adam's turn.  He got himself all lined up, grabbed the rope up high and jumped off and onto the knot at the end.  Except he didn't think about positioning his landing on the knot and squashed some rather essential and sensitive body parts.  He yelled out and as he swung down the pain intensified so by the time he got up to the top of the swing on the other side he decided the pain was too great and just let go without much thought.  Remember he was at the top of the arc of the swing on the other side, but I guess that particular brand of manly pain overtook all rational thought as he just let go and fell flat on his back on the sand from about 15 feet high.

The rest of us were bent over laughing, it was just so funny to watch!  He could have let go at the bottom of the swing, just a couple of feet off the ground, but what was so funny was watching him wait 'til he was all the way back at the top again and then just totally letting go :)

So on this recent trip to Hahei we revisited the same swing, where Adam agreed to go back on it if Sam did first (not thinking that she would go through with it).  Her swing was pretty funny - after quite some time gathering her courage and positioning herself, the sound effects were pretty funny when she jumped off.  See her video here

Then Adam reluctantly climbs up and after quite a while of trying to get himself ready, he backs out :)  The flashbacks were just too vivid :D  So I get up and have a go (see it here) but afterwards Adam still can't bring himself to give it a go.  So Leilani comes up "Look, Dad, I'll do it and show you it's easy".  Now both Adam and I thought he was pretty safe with that one, there was no way Leilani would actually go through with it once she got up there.  So I help her up, give her the rope, but she's not quite tall enough to get up on to the knot.  So I crouch down and tell her to stand up on my knees - and she does! On the side of a pretty high bit of rock.  She gets herself ready and goes for it!  I was so impressed with her, she's got so much braver with stuff like that since we came here.

So after his 6 year old daughter had done it, that sealed his fate, there was no way he could go away being out done by Lani!  So he got up again, went through a fair bit of preparation making sure he was high enough and things were, um, positioned correctly ;) and then finally did it.  He admitted afterwards to holding on pretty tight to try and support his weight with his arms and avoid a repeat of his last experience :)  His swing is here.

Leilani also went back on and had a second go.  Unfortunately I didn't get a video of her turn because the first time I was up there helping her and didn't bother giving my phone to Sam to do it because I never thought she'd go through with it, and by the time of her second go I'd run out of memory :(  Will have to get her next time :)