Splashing through the Sand Bar

As I mentioned, we went to the river last week. I tried to take enough pictures that one could get a feel for one of our day trips. Here we are arriving at the park where we launch the boat:


Driving up river to our favorite spot:

Joe is quite talented as he took this picture of the kids and I in the backseat of the boat while simultaneously driving it. Good thing there was no one else on the water:

Our little slice of heaven. The sand bar:

We love this spot because it offers the kids a sandy place to dig holes and build mountains, splash around without their life jackets if they choose, or swim in a decent area without the current. We spend a majority of our time at this spot. However, as the day progresses, the water rises and slowly but surely our sand bar starts to disappear. Here is Jake and I in a picture taken upon arriving:

And here is Jadyn and I in a picture taken right before departing:

And here is some of the fun we have while we are there swimming, burying Jake's legs in the sand, being thrown up in the air, digging canals, etc. etc:

Here is a shot I took of the sand bar from the shore. You can see Joe and the kids swimming off in the distance. This was taken fairly close to the time we left:

So what do we do when we lose our precious sand bar? We drive further up river and sometimes we spend time at a little cove above the bridge but this trip I really didn't take any pictures of the cove:

Or we float down river at which time the kids love to jump off the boat, swim around and then get back in the boat repeating the cycle over and over again. The other thing that is fairly common during our day trip is Jadyn falling asleep while we are actually driving in the boat. Once we stopped, I just set her down across the seat and let her rest up for dinner and the drive home:

We have made quite a few day trips to the river this summer and now that the weather is going to cool down, I have mixed feelings. I will miss our river trips during the off season but I am also quite glad we took such great advantage this year. And with fall we have so much to look forward to; apple picking, pumpkin patch, hikes up the national park and preserve, more time outside playing, the upcoming holidays and everything else that just can't be done in the heat of the summer. So although most people think of September as the change of the season, for us here in the desert it doesn't quite feel like fall until October. While I can't believe September is already behind us, I look forward to what this fall will bring.