been there, done that

Summer 2012.
We have big getaways planned - a trip to Mexico in July and a bunch vacation to Destin in August. June has kind of been left open to save money for those trips and we had hoped to squeeze in a deep sea fishing trip. This past weekend we were scheduled to play tournament ball but our team did not get put into the bracket. (They may have been a little frightened of our championship Yankee team, we really don't know why they didn't include us). So, because he is better at planning spontaneously, I told Joey that we needed to think of something fun to do with the kids. He did not let me down. He decided that we should take them to float the river.

Friday night we googled places to stay along the river, all were very expensive and most required a two night stay. Instead of making reservations ahead of time, we decided to do that when we got there depending on what we found to do and what time it was when we were ready to settle down. We left the house at 10:09 Saturday morning and headed south. We stopped for gas and we stopped for lunch. Our final stop, five hours later, was at the river. The kids had very different ideas of what "riding down the river in a tube" meant. Kayla thought it was the tubing that you did behind a boat and all Ashlyn said is that she didn't think this is what it would be like (as we started our float).

Joey checked on all the rates and details. My momma instinct was to get a room, mill around and then float on Sunday. Joey's spontaneous reaction was to go ahead and do it today, worry about everything else later. He won. We rented tubes, loaded up in a truck, unloaded and started our three and a half our journey back to our destination. The river was moving slowly; Ashlyn, Kayla and Trey did not stay in their tubes much. They preferred swimming in attempt to speed up the process. Matt and Clayson trudged on ahead and then would stop and wait.Probably three hours into this, I was ready to get out. The bridge that signaled the end was finally in sight but I could not take it any longer. It was cooling off and I wanted out. Apparently, I wasn't the only one - Ashlyn, Kayla and Clayson climbed out and walked the rest of the way with me. We had about a 15 minute walk and then about an hour wait while Joey, Matt and Trey floated their way to the finish. The girls took a tube and rode down a waterfall over and over, Clayson and I had the perfect seats for watching people slip and fall either flat on their back or face plant on this slippery rock five different times. And, yes, we laughed every time. It was so funny.

When it was all said and done, we turned in our tubes and hit the road in search of two things: food and shelter. Our first stop was a La Quinta - they had no vacancies and neither did anything else for that matter. Joey and I had both of our phones going making phone calls from San Marcos to San Antonio and everywhere in between. Nothing. The farther we got down the road, the less entertainment possibilities we found. So, we decided to just head home. Ashlyn was upset about not getting to stay in a hotel, Clayson said he was okay with it, he loved riding in the car. The other three did not have an opinion. Joey said he never dreamed that he would be able to drive back after floating.Since we weren't beat down by the sun and he was able to relax - the driving wasn't so bad. And, by the sounds of things in the back seats - singing, fighting, burping and laughing - the kids were not too tired or worn out either.

We pulled in about 12:45, everyone went straight to bed satisfied with the road trip and their first floating experience. It was a great day together. Ten hours in the car is always good for family bonding...