Sun and Slides

Our next adventure took us to play in one of our most favorite parks where play structures and hiking trails give way to natural water slides.  The scenery is quite serene and the fun is simply waiting to be had.  We put on our wet clothes and water shoes (necessary for slippery rocks), packed up towels, water guns, inner tubes, and cooler full of drinks and snacks, and set our for the hour long drive.  We discovered this place late last summer and only the little ones and I were able to experience it.  At the time, John was still an ankle invalid and journeying out was not an option and the older boys were working so they missed out too.  This time, the weather allowed for us to venture out on a day that the older boys were not working (John still stayed home, but this time it was to work and keep the hounds).  The older boys were happy to go--they saw pictures last year and were a bit jealous.  :-)

When we arrived there was only one other family there but soon they left and we had the whole watery playground to ourselves.  The kids had a blast climbing up and sliding down the falls, sun tanning on the rocks, playing water gun wars, and simply floating in the inner tubes.  So much enjoyment!  

Tanning rock

The bigger the kid, the higher the falls

Tanning and tubes

Water gun wars

The day was getting long, and I was moderating sun intake (especially after my severe burn at the beach) so I was suggesting that we wrap up soon when the outing had an unhappy surprise.  At the bottom of a slide, Sonja and Riley were discussing their run when Sonja noticed that a snake was hitchhiking on her lap!  Of course, it freaked her out and she flipped out of her tube which sent her underwater.  Though she freaked out, the snake did not respond in kind and thankfully it swam away without further incident.  Sonja was a bit water logged and unhappy, but overall she was fine.  Thanks to Jozsef for wading out to check on her and bringing her in.  Jozsef then had his own snake encounter when he was returning and a snake was swimming towards him.  It was all good until the snake dove down and went out of sight.  Jozsef hustled back to shore and made it safely.  The outing was officially over.  

Though the close encounter was undesirable, the snakes were not surprising.  With the extra wet and hot summer, the reptiles were flourishing, and we had already identified one curled up under a log.  We just did not anticipate the swimming and diving snakes.  We tried to identify the kinds of snakes we encountered (two different, if not three) but to no avail.  In any case, another adventure is in the books, and dare I say, the kids are self reportedly looking forward to regular, non-adventurous outings.  We can try--but as the old saying goes, adventure is just around the corner!  ;-)