A Wet Weekend

This has been a water-filled weekend for the kids.  I know many of you can't relate, but for us, the Christmas holidays are often a time to spend lots of time playing in the water.  IF we had a summer season here (which we don't), this would be it.

It always seems like there are some major adjustments to be made once the long holidays begin.  Partly, the kids have to re-adjust to not having a rigid schedule. And I have to adjust to them being home All The Time.  So there are lots of fights and tears and just unpleasantness in the first few days.

So we jumped at the chance to have an outing to the river with good friends.  We planned a morning at the river.... a little hike there, followed by time spent with the kids playing in the water.  Then we started back and stopped off at the Training Center for a picnic lunch.  This is the rainy season, so we didn't know how long we had before the rain began, but thankfully, aside from one short downpour after lunch (when we were able to be sheltered), it was a beautiful day.

 One funny story.  Notice all the little PNG boys in the river in the photo above.  There was quite a group of them playing the whole time we were down there.  They were having a blast.  Playing in the water.  Burying themselves in mud or building mud "thrones" to sit on.  Then they began to have a massive mud-ball fight (not around us, thankfully).  They were racing around, coated head-to-foot in mud... and nothing else.  One of the perks of having dark skin.... you sort of blend in to the river scene.

 Of course, our kids also were drawn to the mud.  Why play in the muddy, yet constantly moving river water when there is a stagnant muddy pool to roll around in!?!

So that was Friday.  Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, the waterslide here on center was opened.  When the time rolled around, our kids were keen to go.  And since it was after 2pm and the rain hadn't started yet (we're in the time of year where it rains pretty much every afternoon like clockwork), I agreed to take them.

Now, I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures.  I actually took the camera along.  But I ended up being too busy to get a picture.  Maybe I can find one "from the archives" to just give an idea of the water slide. 

Ok, here you go:  this was from back in April this year, and it doesn't do the slide justice, but it gives you a little idea.

So there's this loong strip of rubber or whatever it is that goes down a fairly steep hill and there is a small (muddy, of course) pool at the bottom.  It's got like 3 garden hoses supplying water to it.  

So I took Kaitlyn, Nathan, Julianne and Elijah to the slide.  Julianne is pretty small for this, but she insisted that she wanted to give it a try.  But when the time came, she was pretty scared of the idea of going down this pretty steep slide.  Thankfully, Nathan came along to the rescue!  He graciously gave up sliding fast down for most of the time we were there, and went as slow as he could, with Julianne sitting behind him, holding on tightly!  This is where I wish I could have gotten some pictures but I was just too busy.  First, I was watching Elijah every second.  He kept trying to walk down the hill, but because it was so steep, his little legs would get going faster and faster until he inevitably lost his balance and started to sommersault down the hill!  Or he'd see that tempting pool of water at the bottom and try to get as close to it as possible (he's another one of my water bugs who would love to be playing in the water all the time!).  And then, when Julianne was going down the slide with Nathan, I'd have to be at the bottom to try to stop her/catch her before she went into the pool.  Most of the time Nathan was able to keep them at a slow pace and stop before they got to the pool, but there were a couple of times they got going too fast and he lost control.  On one time, they got going so fast I knew he wasn't going to be able to stop.  So I braced myself over the slide and prepared to grab them as they came down.  Unfortunately, they were coming too fast and when they got to me, I couldn't stop them.  I flipped around (still holding on) and almost went down the last few feet of the slide and into the pool head-first.  Amazingly enough, I was able to stop myself and didn't even get wet!  (although I have quite the bruise on my foot from digging it in under the edge to stop myself!)

So I think the kids have enjoyed themselves the last few days.  Yesterday actually ended up being sunny and dry the entire day.  It was the most beautiful day we've had in a while.  It's been nice to have the chances to be outside and playing.  I'm sure there will be more of those over the remaining 4+ weeks of the school break.