The Slackline

One thing we acquired over the summer was a slackline. Klenda saw it at REI, and it was love at first sight. Not only was she was willing to pay half, she was willing to talk a brother and sister into paying the other half.

A slackline is like a tight rope, except it's slack instead of tight (there's a lot of bounce in it) and it's a line the width of packing tape instead of a skinny rope. It's generally strung up about 2 1/2 feet off the ground.

Appropriately, it's made by a company called Gibbon.

Several things have happened since we've gotten the slackline.

1. It certainly keeps our monkeys busy!

2. It keeps the neighbors amused. (I think it's because it looks a lot like a police line, but I suppose they could be laughing at us...)

3. The Emperor is getting more exercise.

4. Everyone is getting a better sense of balance. We still look like klutzes on the slackline, but after using a bouncy, wiggly strip of fabric, a regular old wooden balance beam is amazingly easy! (Myxl's Boy Scout leader recently declared him a "ninja," best in his troop, for being able to casually walk not just 1" beams, but also inclined and declined 1" beams!)

Some day:




4. My favorite thing about slack lining? It's not parkour. Parkour looks amazing, but the slack line seems less likely to involve death or serious injury. (I should warn you that you don't want your kids to see this video - oh, it's not "inappropriate" in the usual sense, but seeing the videos makes me want to go do it. My kids went nuts!)