A River Runs Through It

We did get to visit the Chattahoochee before we left Atlanta; though the weather never cleared up enough for us to be able to take our little trip down the river, it was good enough to go to a nearby park to play in the water for a while.

I think this is one of the loveliest spots I know...Water, trees, geese, rocks, fishermen...what more could you want?

Miss Jenna walking around on the rocks.

One of the things I enjoy about a place like this is seeing my kids have fun together and help each other out. Josh was great at helping Rachel and Jared get across a particularly slippery place between two big rocks.

And Rachel and Jared were thrilled to have gotten out so far.

Josh helped Jason get across too.

As we planned the weekend the kids started talking about belonging to the Chattahoochee Club. One year when we were playing in the river Rachel slipped and fell completely in the water. The Chattahoochee is fed from the bottom of the Lake Lanier dam, and the water is freezing cold. In an attempt to keep Rachel from freaking out about being all wet and cold, Uncle Larry made a big deal about how excited he was now that she was in the Chattahoochee Club. Rachel has always been very proud that she was a member of the Chattahoochee Club.

Josh started telling the little kids that if they were in the club they would get a full sized candy bar. Now in our family, getting a full sized candy bar is a rare occurance indeed, so the little kids were excited by this promise. Here are pictures of Rachel and Jared coming up out of the cold, cold, cold water. (I took Jason's camera instead of mine to the river because his is so much smaller. I was definitely missing my zoom!)

It took Jenna a lot longer to decide to dunk. I actually tried to talk her out of it. She gets cold so much faster anyway, and I didn't want her to feel pressured. But the idea of the full sized candy bar was stronger than her fear of being cold, and she eventually went all the way in. I was a little worried about Jason going all the way in too--I wasn't sure how his chest was going to react to being that cold, but he handled it ok.

I was right about one thing--as soon as all of the kids were wet, it was time to pack up and go back to Larry & Gaye's house. We had time to get warm, eat, and then we had to pack up for the long drive back home. It was sure a great trip, though---and we can't wait to go back again. We still need to "Shoot the Hooch!"

P.S. I thought this sign from the park was hysterical.

Here's a picture of the bridge from the georgiatrails website.

I had never realized before that the missing part of the bride had been stolen...presumably for scrap metal during WWII. What an enterprising project! I did do enough research to learn that the bridge wasn't in use any more at the time that part of it was stolen, which was quite a relief. All I could think of was the poor person who discovered the theft the hard way...