Playing in the Rain. . . Again

Yes, it is still raining here. I hear they need it in Georgia. . . in Italy (where a family friend is talking of having to truck in water for olive trees). Can someone puleeze give the rain a GPS adjustment all ready?

Despite the perennial sogginess we had fun tonight. One of our "park friends" called and asked if I was up for a walk in the rain to a small pond. She and her had seen ducks and even a great blue heron there. The kids and I go out to play in the rain---otherwise we would have been housebound all of June--so of course I said yes.

We donned our rain wear and drove up to their house. The walk to the pond was not too far away and the kids had a blast splashing in the puddles on the way. I felt a little hypervigilent. The pond was deep, the banking steep, the banking covered with moss which made footing tricky. I am not edgy about water as a general rule, but I absolutely watch closely. The ducks were unwilling to come visit us at first, but eventually Lissa and our friends 2 y/o stepped back a bit and entered into a splashing contest in a puddle. KC was more able to stand quietly and the duck came over. And we saw the great blue heron. It was amazingly close to us and it was amazing to see.

From there we went to a nearby waterfall and sailed leaves and small sticks over the edge, watching them race and tumble in the ferocity of the stream. By this time, all the kids were soaked. KC had run and jumped into a puddle and lost his footing and landed on his butt in about 8 inches of water. Lissa and our friends son had puddle stomped so much that both of them were saturated as well. We walked back to their house, borrowed some dry clothing and played inside in their finished basement for about 40 minutes. It was a great energy burning adventure for KC and Lissa who at this point in the week are starting to miss Robbie and are starting to be sick of only playing with me!