Shall we gather at the river?

Mom and Pop are hikers. They go hiking all the time and then Mom writes about the hike and the trip out... how long it takes to do the hike and you'll see, etc. So when we arrived there is a large cache of articles and brochures about hiking trails organized into a nice folder. I dug through and found a place not too far away called Hot Springs. I spoke with Mom and Pop and confirmed that this is a nice place to take the kids. So, with Big Talker 3's squeaking's voice and scratching (yes, this bug has found its way to Big Talker now) we headed out.

It took a little searching but we finally made it to a river in a narrow area with lots of small falls. We did a bit of a walkabout and finally found a spot to drop our things. As promised, the water was "soaking cold." I didn't even wear my swimsuit (I'm no idiot) but everyone else did!

Initially the kids didn't quite know what to think. First you have to navigate large river rocks held together with nice liquid mud. The rocks wiggled when you walked on them and the mud splashed HIGH when you fell into it. But it was all worth it when the kids finally made it into the water itself only to find it "ff-fff-ff-ff-ffrreeezzzzzing." Drama Queen 5 had blue lips the entire time. But they all took the plunge. Princess Kickapoo 8 took some convincing and ulitimately did go under the water, but only not to be left out. As soon as she emerged from under the water, she got out of the water and dried off and changed clothes! ha! The one who seemed to most enjoy things was Laughing Son 6. No surprise there... the boy enjoying the tough-to-enjoy! He stayed in the water enough to prune up. Big Talker 3 did get in the water but didn't dig it much. Afterwards he sunned himself on a rock. I went out to talk to him and make sure he wasn't sad. He was fine, just enjoying the sun. Did I mention that this occurred on July 3rd? In Texas on July 3rd I don't think it would be possible to find a water supply anywhere that wasn't close to boiling!

Finally we headed back. Along the way, however, we found some ripe blackberries. Not many, just a few. Drama Queen 5 LOVED them.. she ate several. Not so much for Princess Kickapoo 8, she wouldn't even try them until she found out that these were used to make jam. Then she tentatively tried one (not easy to do with a cluster of fruit no larger than a marble) and spit it out! what city slicker kids I have.