Labor Day weekend: Sunday & Monday

After our fun day on Saturday at The Swag, it was going to be hard to outdo ourselves on Sunday. But we were bound and determined to try.

Do you know what that means? It means ZIPLINING.

Ziplining in a tee-tiny little town where we had to wait over an hour for our turn because they didn't have enough equipment to take more than six people at a time on a tour. Please note my dad's skeptical expression in these photos as he, Grayson and the boys were getting their instructions from their instructor -- the tattooed dude in the sleeveless white T-shirt.

Jake looked pretty skeptical, too.

Once their group had signed their lives away and agreed not to sue even if they lost a limb, they started suiting up.

The guide said that if it didn't hurt, it wasn't tight enough.

I know what you're going to think when you see the picture below. "YOU LET JAKE ZIPLINE?!"

Well, yes. I was as surprised as you are that they let 6-year-olds do it. But if a website says it's safe for 6-year-olds, then that means it's safe for 6-year-olds, right? I'm pretty sure the Internet doesn't lie.

I MAY have had second thoughts as I watched my baby boy trudge up the hill with the group, all the rest of whom seemed to tower over him.

(We didn't take the tram to the top of the mountain, but that was an option. It took 20 minutes each way.)

They worked their way up the trail to the first tower, which was in the trees off to the left.

After several minutes, all of a sudden I saw Grayson come flying out of the trees from right to left.

And soon after that, Nathaniel appeared.

They zipped into this hole in the trees, and then I had to wait for them to appear again, this time coming toward me, out over the parking lot.

Did I say "I"? Yes. That's because even though I had Amelia with me, she had long since lost interest and was watching Tangled in the van. So I was leaning up against the van, with the door open, trying to take pictures of My Other People flying by at 45 miles per hour while making sure no one stole my van with my daughter in it. EASY PEASY!

I thought she'd be interested in seeing them all come flying through the air, but ... NOPE. So I just snapped away as they sailed over my head, one by one. First, Grayson ...

Then Nathaniel ...

AND THEN MY BABY JAKE ... and he looked so small I nearly died.

And Nick, who seemed very at ease with the whole thing (no surprise there) ...

And then, after all the kids had flown down the line, my dad came sailing over. I still can't believe he did it!

No hands!

Once they made it all the way across, they were all crammed (along with two guides and the two other people in their group) onto this tiny little platform!

Can you believe that? It looked like it might fall over at any second.

I'm sure it wouldn't. I mean, it didn't. But I was standing there underneath it with my knees bent, as if I was going to catch them all if everything fell apart.

GOOD NEWS: IT HELD.

They all went on to successfully zip down the last segment.

The way they did it was nice ... from what I could tell, they rotated who went first on each leg, so no one had to wait and go last or get stuck in the middle every time.

It was so worth it to hear Jake yell "WOO HOO!!!" at the top of his lungs as he zipped at top speed during every flight. Absolutely hilarious. I think he enjoyed it more than everyone else combined.

This time Grayson brought up the rear, and less than 15 minutes later, they were back inside, taking off their gear.

On Monday morning I wanted to get a couple of pictures of the kids with my parents before we left town, so we gathered in front of their house for a few quick photos before lunch. I was excited to get a few keepers!

We're very grateful to my parents for such a fun weekend in North Carolina ... thanks, Mop and Pop!