Courage, Dear Heart

Ireland's Girl Scout troop is disbanding. It's not uncommon for girls to leave scouting as they enter middle school and her troop leader had a hard time seeing a reason to keep going when her own daughter was just done with it. A few girls will join a new troop but first they had their very last activity which was ziplining in Geneva, WI. This is a beautiful resort town and I was really excited for her. 

She chose "Scotland" for her nickname- rather clever.

She looked so cute all geared up and I was excited to head back to town and do some window shopping.

I was dismayed to get a call from the troop leader 20 min later telling me that Ireland was terrified, crying and didn't want to continue. I asked to speak to her but they'd already let her down from the zipline so I headed back to get her. They were supposed to have pizza, s'mores and games afterwards but I told her no, jump in the car and let's go. If she wasn't going to do this then she wasn't going to do any of it. A kind worker I'd spoken to on my way over told me there was a final zipline where she could rejoin the group and try the final run. With tears streaming down her face, Ireland told me she would do it. Turns out another girl backed down and was likewise sobbing until her mother picked her up. After a while, it was time and Ireland braved it again. 

She came back all smiles and ended up having a really wonderful time with the rest of her troop. They played Giant Jenga which immediately made me determined to get our own set.

They took a moment to reminisce over all the fun activities and experiences they'd had together as a troop. The s'mores were mixed in with (of course) Girl Scout cookies and it was a really beautiful send off for this incredible troop!

When I saw how terrified Ireland was of that zipline- the shaking and sobbing- I decided right then and there she needed to overcome this. While she went back for that final run, I headed into the office and scheduled another one- this time for me, Liesel and Ireland. I didn't want this experience to defeat her and I truly believe you will never regret overcoming a fear. Ireland was going to do that entire zipline course come hell or high water. 

We returned just a couple of weeks later for try #2. 

I brought Liesel so Ireland could see someone closer to her age and size do it and man- Liesel took to ziplining like a fish to water. She LOVED it start to finish!

Dauntless, that one!

Then it was Ireland's turn and I was a mean mom telling her she was GOING to do this. She started shaking and crying again. "20 seconds of insane courage" I told her. There was no going back, only forward.

And then she was off.

With each line she gained more and more confidence.

I was even having a blast and I'm not terribly fond of heights either!

We had so much fun!

There's one zipline that's particularly long so you can pose for a while before preparing to land on the next platform. Without a thought, Liesel flipped upside down.

I tried it (although not nearly as gracefully).

Ireland let go of some inhibitions and kicked her legs a bit and seemed to be smiling the whole way.

Super proud of her for all this.

Liesel and I also tried the "Dead Man's Hang" which was a lot of fun.

Finally it came time for the racing zipline. This is the one Ireland was able to rejoin with her troop so she had already done it and was excited to race Liesel. We had Batman handles to hold onto and a gorgeous view on the way down.

Spoiler alert: Ireland won

I raced one of the guides and even though I ran off that platform and even though he gave me a head start and even though I pointed my toes and made myself as aerodynamic as possible, somehow he still won! Makes me want to go back just to figure out what the secret sauce is on that last run.

After a successful ziplining adventure, we headed into town for some Kilwin's ice cream. We fell in love with this brand on a trip to Petoskey, MI. 

We also did a little shopping (each girl got a cute top from this sweet little boutique) and it was just an all-around great day. Here are some selfies we took while waiting to gear up for ziplining:

I'm such a big believer in facing your fears and I'm so glad Ireland took on the challenge to face this one. Now we have some incredible memories from it and I don't know that she'll be so terrified of a zipline in the future. Even if she is, I hope she digs deep for that 20 seconds of insane courage...