Been Playing at the River and I'm Tired to the Bone*

Temps were in the 80s yesterday and today, so the kids and I headed down to the river when they got home from school.

There are a lot of things that frustrate me about our living situation here at the inn. Two bedrooms to divide among four kids, three of whom want their own room. One bathroom for a family of six. Having to constantly tell the kids "shush!"

But one thing I love, love, love about living here is having the river on the property. It sits down in a valley within the Valley as it passes through our property, so the river and banks are shaded in the late afternoon. Even my very fair baby can play without needing sunblock.

I pull a white plastic chair into the river and soak my feet while I read, keeping one eye on the kids. EM and IM cross to the large rocks in the middle of the river and imagine. (This alone makes the river valuable. These two have the most difficult time enjoying their siblinghood and I treasure any time they spend having fun together.)

NB, who is a little shorter and more cautious than IM, is nervous about wading out as far as the rocks, and usually plays in the shallows where the river slows down a bit. There's good mud there.

LW throws rocks in the river and wades along the edges. I'm a bit nervous about the way he was eyeing EM and IM toward the end of our time today. The river is shallow enough for the three older kids to cross safely, but it's definitely too deep for the baby.

In fact, it was LW's fussiness at not being over on the rocks with his brother and sister that brought us up from the river. Otherwise I think we would have stayed until Michael called us in for dinner.

* Thanks to John McCutchin for the title.