Memorial Day

Well, it has been quite a while since I last made an entry. I have still been a blog reader, but just taking some time from the documenting. Have had a whirlwind last few days. I am sure I'll share about it at some point.

This morning I got up and went to work. I wondered if all of the people that were missing from my morning drive were at home thanking someone that lost their life for our country. Do people still do that? Our family does acknowledge memorial day and we have talked about it with the kids, but what about everyone else?...I wonder.

After work we drove to Pedernales Falls State Park. It is one of our favorite state parks and is only about an hour drive from our house. Some of you might remember that our family picture on this year's Christmas card was taken at Pedernales Falls. We had two reason for going...one is that I needed some time away from the phone and the house and the stuff and the second is because the Blanco river is ROARING!!! We have seen it rise a few times, but I am pretty certain that I have never seen it this angry. I know that sounds goofy, but it is raging. Dangerously out of control. I am including a link to the photos that the Austin American Statesman took on Saturday. The water has gone down some, but it is still scary to me.



So you'll see in the first photo, it is all of us at the falls. I hope you can tell how hard and fast the water was coming down. It was pretty loud and felt so nice and oddly serene down there. One thing learned while down at the falls...#2 said that she liked it down there cause no one could hear you toot and the wind was blowing so you couldn't smell it.



The second photo is MY LIFE!!! JC couldn't hear me screaming to get #4 out of the water. Look how close he is to being swept away by the water. JC says that I am overreacting, but I say that a picture is worth a thousand words.



About the third photo - We planned to have a picnic at the park, but I was certain that the kids wouldn't get in the water because of how fast it is moving. Well, naturally, Jeff is like 'sure, they can put their feet in the water'. So we hike down to a swimming area away from the falls and as you can see behind the kids, the water is still moving fast. And...there was really no bank to sit or hang out on because the water is so high. JC decided he didn't want to get in with the kids, so that left me (fully clothed) in the water with them and freaking out the whole time. Most of you can prolly hear me yelling now..."you are too far", "don't push your sister", "don't get close to that tree". The good news is that I don't think my freakishness ruined the water play too much for them.



And about this last picture. Have you ever seen the commercial(for Carnival Cruise Lines, I think) where they parents are on vacation looking for the 'endangered species' or something like that? And at the end of the commercial they find it and it is the teenage daughter smiling. But as soon as she sees them taking the picture she stops smiling. Well, our kids do smile and are very happy, but this moment reminded me of that commercial. For years #1 and #2 were BFF and did everything together. Then each of them started changing and they started bonding more with their same sex sibling. Well, today, they were laughing and talking and goofing off and it made me so so so happy. This is my very favorite picture from the whole day. I didn't do a jig to make them laugh or bribe them to smile. They didn't even know I was snapping pictures. They were having fun and I LOVE IT!!!! This is just another reminder of how I am so lucky and exactly where I am suppose to be in life.

Okay - gonna go get on the couch and watch Cars with the kids. Great movie and great way to end the day.