Em and T continue with their love/hate relationship. Partly because of this - E loves her food. He is learning though. On Thursday morning he didn’t eat it, he cleaned up the pieces she’d spilled, then got more out, then cleaned those up. He’s a helper.
Because the two babies love to hate each other, we cage Emmi in with our ottomans and pillows. On Wednesday somehow he climbed to the top of the ottoman and stood up on it. Then on Thursday, Tenkor breached the gate.
They both behaved and even played footsies.
I’m not a dog person, but T loves me, and how can you not love someone that loves you? I pretty much love her.
Friday was going to be our last hurrah before school starts. Our last day of summer. Alecia and I planned to do something, and we decided on Pot Rocks. The day Laura and I found that swimming hole was magical and we’ve always wanted to go back. When I put it into google maps, it came right up, right on Gunpowder River, and we were set. I never thought to check anything else. Duh, duh, duh. I picked up Ellie and Abby and all were in high spirits.
The map to Pot Rocks took us to the end of a culdesac. So then I figured we were close, so i looked up Gunpowder Falls and found one like 2 miles away. So then I drove there. Another residential neighborhood, then there was a teeny sign for the state park that lead to a one lane hill where there was a water treatment plant to the left, and a teeny path leading through the brush to the right. That didn’t seem right either. I googled and tried to quickly read through reviews and directions, I found that the entrance to Pot Rocks via Gunpowder State Park was closed because of construction on a bridge, but there was water access at another entrance to GF. As soon as we started driving, I knew that didn’t seem right. 🤦♀️ We drove another 20 minutes and ended up at the beach where Laura and I had started last time. We conferred and decided to try Pot Rocks again. At this point we’d been driving for around 3 hours. We found the entrance to where Laura and I had parked and hiked to Pot Rocks. It was blocked off and nowhere to park. We talked about parking across the busy street where we could, and frogger’ing across, but even then we weren’t sure we could make it happen because it was blocked, there wasn’t anybody around, and the bridge was out. We decided to try the GF neighborhood entrance. More driving ensued.
Beginning the hike by the water treatment plant. So full of hope!
Our path lead us basically into peoples backyards. When the brush got too thick we called it a day, completely cut through someone’s backyard to get up to the street and ask for directions. We talked to several different people and everyone had heard of Pot Rocks, but no one had been there, or really knew where it was.
Heading back to our cars to try the other residential entrance to Pot Rocks.
There were no trespassing signs in that cul de sac, and a woman out mowing told us that you used to be able to access Pot Rocks from there, but several years ago they built houses and now it’s private property. I was hoping she’d offer to let us trespass, but she was on the wrong side of the street and she never did.
We took votes all along the way to see what the kids wanted to do. It was pretty hot and we’d been driving forever and we were pretty disappointed. We decided to persevere and give it one last go. But to really go for it, we decided to follow the “river,” which was actually more like a trickle. We walked and walked and sang about the pioneer children and talked about perseverance and how proud of everyone we were. Everyone was really great about the fiasco after fiasco we were experiencing. We followed the river until again the brush grew too thick to pass. It was sad. We felt like we were really close and there was just no way to get there. It was also like, 4:00 by this point. We finally gave up. There was just no way.
We stopped to play in some “falls.” The kids were so great and had a fun time splashing and pretending.
We stopped to play in some “falls.” The kids were so great and had a fun time splashing and pretending.
I generally really like myself, but I had been pretty prideful with Matt that morning (still learning how to not be stubborn), and then I felt responsible for the fiasco of the day, and I hate not liking myself. Thankfully I forgive myself pretty quickly too. How and why would I think we would have to check to make sure a swimming hole was accessible? I had zero clue. But the good thing about me is that like Anne of Green Gables, I never make the same adventure mistake twice, and now I know. 🤷♀️
Showing us how they really felt.
They played and Alecia and I chatted. She’s such a good friend and so ready for adventure and fun and flexible.
The thunder had been rumbling for awhile, so we decided to head back. As we traipsed through the riverbed, our 9 kids and 2 tired moms, carrying towels and water toys, it started storming. Then the dementors came and it got dark and chilly, leaves were flying all around us (it was actually really pretty) and some branches broke off trees nearby. And it started raining.
Kids were crying. And even though we were following the riverbank, I did start to wonder if we’d gone too far. It was just a mess. The whole day.
We finally made it back to our car and, determined to end the day well, headed for ice cream.
I wrote that the Prigle Family Creamery was magical last time, and it was magical again this time. The kids played tag after they enjoyed their ice cream dinner.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all.
9 of the best little troopers around. We have some seriously great kids.
#always
And the brave, happy, persevering, calm moms. And no, I’m not pregnant even though I look it.
On the way home we listened to Harry Potter and then talked and then when girls started arguing I played my favorite folksy rendition of I’m trying to be like Jesus and bawled. It was an emotional day. Then we hit a crazy thunderstorm and Alecia and crew almost got struck by lightning and we almost got carried away in a flash flood. Not really, but it was lightning all around and raining hard and there were several accidents. Thankfully we made it home safely and we did have an adventure, even if it was of the misadventure variety. Until next time, Pot Rocks.
Showing us how they really felt.
They played and Alecia and I chatted. She’s such a good friend and so ready for adventure and fun and flexible.
The thunder had been rumbling for awhile, so we decided to head back. As we traipsed through the riverbed, our 9 kids and 2 tired moms, carrying towels and water toys, it started storming. Then the dementors came and it got dark and chilly, leaves were flying all around us (it was actually really pretty) and some branches broke off trees nearby. And it started raining.
Kids were crying. And even though we were following the riverbank, I did start to wonder if we’d gone too far. It was just a mess. The whole day.
We finally made it back to our car and, determined to end the day well, headed for ice cream.
I wrote that the Prigle Family Creamery was magical last time, and it was magical again this time. The kids played tag after they enjoyed their ice cream dinner.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad day after all.
9 of the best little troopers around. We have some seriously great kids.
#always
And the brave, happy, persevering, calm moms. And no, I’m not pregnant even though I look it.
On the way home we listened to Harry Potter and then talked and then when girls started arguing I played my favorite folksy rendition of I’m trying to be like Jesus and bawled. It was an emotional day. Then we hit a crazy thunderstorm and Alecia and crew almost got struck by lightning and we almost got carried away in a flash flood. Not really, but it was lightning all around and raining hard and there were several accidents. Thankfully we made it home safely and we did have an adventure, even if it was of the misadventure variety. Until next time, Pot Rocks. 
No comments:
Post a Comment