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Last Monday was Russ' 22nd birthday. 

As his girlfriend, it's my job to make sure his day is absolutely spectacular. 

After four years, there's not much we haven't done together, and I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to come up with something that would top his previous birthdays (Splish Splash, private safari ride, ballroom dancing, surprise party in NYC). Then, his wonderful mama suggested zip lining at Adventure Park in Wheatley Heights. I knew he'd love it.

Adventure Park opened on June 21st, only nine days before we went, so we were thrilled that it wasn't crowded. We got harnessed up and began our journey into the trees. As personal trainers and fitness enthusiasts, we were excited to push ourselves to see if we could complete each course. There are eight courses that are set up like ski slopes, ranging from least difficult to most difficult. We had a 3.5 hour time slot to complete as many as we could. 

Each course took about one hour. The obstacles required a lot of core strength (thank you, bosu ball!) and upper body strength (thank you, pull-up bar!). We encouraged each other and strategized the best and fastest way to get to each platform. After two hours of hard work and depleting energy, the birthday boy was ready to tackle the double black diamond.

Just looking at the course made me nervous, but Russ encouraged me to try it. I knew I'd regret not attempting it, so I followed my 22-year-old on to double black diamond. The second obstacle required you to walk on spinning, wooden wheels. I took two steps and instantly fell onto the wire. My arms were scraped and slightly bleeding, but I followed Russ' voice and finally met him to continue onto the next one. After he completed it, he coached me through. That one was even worse. I don't even remember doing it. I couldn't feel my hands, and didn't know if my bruising arms could handle any more pressure. They said the course gets harder as you go, and that freaked me out. Russ calmed me down and looked ahead, we decided that there wasn't a shot I could complete the course with aching hands, so he called for one of the employees to come rescue me. What a guy.

I watched my superman complete the double black diamond. I have no idea how he did it; the obstacles were insanely difficult. They said this course was used for military and police training, and half of the guys couldn't even complete it. I was so impressed with and proud of Russ!

After using up all the energy that our 10 a.m. egg sandwiches gave us, we traveled to Hempstead to get Russ his favorite sandwich: The Coyote. I'm talking chicken cutlet, melted mozzarella, bacon, waffle fries, and ranch on a garlic hero. CHEAT DAY! We ended his birthday celebration with a present (a new bike which deserves its own blog post), seeing Transformers, and eating homemade fruit pie. It was a beautiful day.

Give Adventure Park a try!