Weekend Roundup- River Edition

 Last week we got to go on a summer vacation to New Braunfels, Tx! 

When we got to our cabins, they were so cool!

They were built right into the side of a creek and in among the trees. Do you see it?

Here are Eric and the kids crossing one of the two bridges to our cabin.

Here was my view crossing the bridge.

I could have been pretty happy with just the deck.

But we really thought the inside was cool too! Looking up at the loft....

and down at the first floor.

The kids were SO happy! 

The view out the window was so peaceful. Every time you looked out any of the windows you seemed to be truly suspended in the trees.

The first thing the kids explored (after the cabin loft) was the mostly dry creek bed. 

The kids were looking for interesting rocks and found a large heart shaped one. This started a quest to collect more heart shaped rocks.

Behind our cabin were some cows. They would Moo when they came home in the evening.

Back over the bridge and across the street we found our way to the river.

NOW we have arrived!

 We are here!

Should we get in?

 It's a little cold! But we played for awhile.

 The kids went back to exploring the creek with Granny while Eric got dinner ready. I decided to do a little yoga.

After dinner, we watched a movie with popcorn and M&Ms. (After Eric got the whole setup rewired!).

Good morning! 

Breakfast time.

After breakfast, we went tubing on the river. The lady told us the river had been closed the entire month of June and only opened up the weekend before we arrived. In recent years the riverbed had been in drought and then this spring with all the rain, the lake had gotten so full they were actually forced to flood the river resulting in the temporary closure. We sure had great timing!

Our first float was about 3 1/2 hours and included 'the horseshoe' and then an additional length of the river right back to a bridge near our cabin. This was the kids first time floating the river and it went great-- apart from one incident. One rapid on the longer part of the river ended up breaking us apart. Up to that point we had been able to keep all together. Everett, unfortunately, ended up falling behind and panicked when he saw us all floating away from him. I was (finally) able to stop and stand up and call (YELL) to him to get back in and keep floating to me. He was never in any danger. He just got freaked out. Poor little guy.

But that didn't tarnish his experience! After a lunch break, we all headed back to re-float the horseshoe section. We did it TWO more times! I don't have any pictures of our tubing adventures because I was too chicken to take my phone on the river. :(

Again, Eric made dinner and the kids explored the creek.

We had been outside and in the water almost all day so, after dinner and another movie, we were ready for bed!

We tossed around several options for day 3 but in the end everyone was content to just play all day in the river access by our cabin. 

   

Checking on their rock stack.

They built it on the first day and it was still standing!

These kids loved the river.

The adults...

...were pretty happy...

...too!

Granny was happy relaxing all covered up. We had party cloudy weather both days and with the temperature in the 80's in the morning and evening it was a bit chilly for these Houstonians!

Evie gets a selfie + mom

Together on the cool ledge.

My river cutie one...

and two!

Eric decided to head back upstream and try to float a portion of the river in the blowup raft Granny had brought.

I drove them up and dropped them off. When I saw them begin their float (see them?), I headed back to wait with Granny and Everett. Eric estimated it would take them around 15-30 minutes to float it.

We waited.

and waited....15, 30, 45 minutes went by! 

Then I kinda started wondering what I should do-- when we saw them come around the bend!

Hooray!

A successful trip!

The rapids were a bit harder on Eric with just a blow up float under him. In fact, the bottom section of the raft was no longer blown up!

Eric relaxes after paddling and navigating.

Everett says he isn't ready to take his turn yet floating with dad. So, we continued to all hang out and play in the river. 

One of our favorite things to do was catch leaves as they floated by. It was both a beautiful and fun game.

Soon, everyone but me headed back to get out of the sun and grab some lunch. I decided to stay and actually soak up some sun with the lovely cold water running gently by and the cool breeze keeping me comfortable in the sunshine. It was a VERY peaceful moment.

Eventually, Eric came back and joined me and we had another mini date relaxing in the river. I told Eric this had been one of the most relaxing vacations I have ever been on. I'm usually such a go-go-go vacationer. Even on the cruise I took last year I was always eager to explore the ship or find out what activity was going on. I didn't want to miss anything (especially the boat at ports of call or our flights)! This vacation, once we arrived, was just had relaxing, hanging out, and enjoying. 

When we returned to the cabin we found what we thought was a relaxing scene.

but it turned out that although Granny was trying to relax in the hammock,

these two had made up a super fun game where they tried to sneak up on Granny and scare her. Apparently, with much success. Don't they look guilty???

Now, Everett feels refueled and up for a float with Eric. So, again I drove and dropped them off. 

Then we all had some reading time. I was completely into my vacation book!

When I looked up I realized poor Granny had fallen asleep. Those kids should have let her rest in the hammock!

I had planned to meet the boat but timed it wrong and when I got there, they were already walking back to the cabin. Everett got to see snakes and turtles and an albino deer along the way! He was so excited to tell me how GREAT it was! (Evie was like- I only saw ducks!!)  

Eric was such a trooper to do it twice (especially since Everett isn't as much help with the paddling).

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking a bit downstream and playing in the shallow rapids. We enjoyed just sitting in the rushing water. We watched families and kids in kayaks, tubes and floats going down the river. The kids really were amazed at the power of the moving water. It was a perfect temperature and a perfect evening. 

In the morning, we said our goodbyes to Birdseye Perch.

While Eric was loading the van, he happened to spot this HUGE bug! Those antennae almost double it's length! Yikes!

Everett got a picture too. 

Ready for reality (not really) and the drive back home. Thank you so much to Granny for this wonderful vacation. We enjoyed the adventure and all the time we got to spend together. 

Memories were made.