at the beginning of the summer, the boys and i came up with something called the monkey bar challenge. neither one of them could go all the way across the monkey bars at school. in fact, neither one of them could really do the monkey bars at all. they would stand there and watch the little girls whip across them, and you could see the envy in their eyes. i think maybe boys just don't do monkey bars like girls do, i dunno. some of those little girls are insane. anyway, this challenge has been going on all summer. i've even pulled an armpit muscle trying to show them how to do it...as a grown-up girl, i have to say monkey bars are a lot harder than they used to be.

so anyway, tonite we bike downtown for awhile, and stop for the monkey bar challenge. big j takes a deep breath, and suddenly monkeys his way all the way across without batting an eye. the grin on his face was worth a million dollars. not to be outdone, little j goes to the even BIGGER set of monkey bars and goes across about 4 rungs before he drops with an ear-shattering WHOOOHOOOO.

funny how all at once, the whole world can change for a kid. i think the next challenge is going to have to be that dang rope you have to climb up in gym class...ugh. that brings back some pathetic memories. don't be surprised if BOTH my armpits are broken next time you see me...