John and I took the kids camping to Juniper Springs in the Ocala National Forest this past weekend. As a child, we would go there once or twice a year, mostly for my Dad's company picnics. I have fond memories of walking down the creek, canoeing, and swimming in the Springs, and wanted to introduce the experience to my kids. What started out as a tent camping expedition, quickly evolved to a borrowing of a pop-up camper adventure, which morfed into taking my parents 32' rv, equipped with bathroom, fridge, stove top and AC. Hardly roughing it, really! I admit, I'm a wuss!
Our first night we were introduced to all of the racoons that live in the campground area.....Emma was sure that Pocohantas was somewhere in the woods if Meeko was so close by..(such is the life of living with a wanna-be Princess). I brought along the kids' nets, which they were so excited to catch the fish in the Spings with. We will definitely be taking Ian with us if we ever do "Family Survivor", as he can catch those little minnows!
Now, I don't remember the Spring water being so cold when I was a kid (it is always 72), but as my sister explained, there is now a difference in temperatures: kid warm, Daddy warm, and Mommy warm. 72 is definitely not Mommy Warm, so I watched from the side as the kids swam around, caught fish and shivered. There is a rock wall about 10' above the water (which goes down about 20') that people often jump off of. Next to that wall is a slippery rock that is another 3' or so above the wall. If you know my kids, you know that Gavin was not in the pool but 5 minutes before he wanted to jump off of that wall. My sister tells me that for sure, I had jumped off of that wall many times when I was younger. I think it must have been traumatic enough to have been wiped from my memory.........but, that is nothing to watching your 6 year old contemplate jumping 10 feet into 20 feet water. He just finished up swim lessons, and is still working at being a strong swimmer, so I made John stand on the ledge under the wall in case Gavin needed help......(John declared 72 not Daddy-warm either, but he's a Daddy and will do almost anything for his kids....did I mention that the grass and fishies in the water freaked him out??) So, Gavin jumped in, doggie paddled to the ledge and declared that "AWESOME". I so see his Uncle Billy in him.........Gavin will be the high adventure, parachuting, thrill seekerer of our family! Eventually John jumped as well, figuring he couldn't let his 6 year old show him up. And, then, much to my surprise, Ian decided to jump too. I was so proud of Ian, as it usually takes him a while to attempt something new and different, and this was definitely out of his comfort box. By the next day, both boys were jumping off of the slippery rock too! Emma was happy to play on the steps, thank God!
The next day, we canoed the creek run..............7 miles long. We had to take 2 canoes because of weight and water levels, which meant that John and I canoed the creek primarily by ourselves. Although Ian turned out to be quite an oarsman. Gavin, on the other hand, couldn't quite figure out the jist of paddling. After a mile, Gavin left my canoe and I got Ian, which was much more enjoyable for all of us. We saw too many turtles to count, a couple of other canoers, and two very large alligators. I've decided that alligator size is relative to your environment...........in a zoo, these gators were probably not very big, but on the side of a creek, 2 feet away, with your children in the canoe, these guys were HUGE. We couldn't convince Gavin though that they were real. He wanted to row over and touch one to see if it would move. See, adrenaline junkie in the making.............. We completed the canoe run in about 5 1/2 hours, which was a couple of hours too long for the boys..........Emma enjoyed the canoe trip by laying on a soft sided cooler in the middle of my canoe and thought it was fun. John and I ate Motrin for dinner that night!
Actually, John's Mom, my parents, my oldest niece, my sister and her two girls all came out and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and made s'mores over our campfire. It was a lot of fun to just hang out by the fire and relax. The next day we went to Mom and Dads to unpack the RV, let the kids swim without fish, and headed home.
Our first night we were introduced to all of the racoons that live in the campground area.....Emma was sure that Pocohantas was somewhere in the woods if Meeko was so close by..(such is the life of living with a wanna-be Princess). I brought along the kids' nets, which they were so excited to catch the fish in the Spings with. We will definitely be taking Ian with us if we ever do "Family Survivor", as he can catch those little minnows!
Now, I don't remember the Spring water being so cold when I was a kid (it is always 72), but as my sister explained, there is now a difference in temperatures: kid warm, Daddy warm, and Mommy warm. 72 is definitely not Mommy Warm, so I watched from the side as the kids swam around, caught fish and shivered. There is a rock wall about 10' above the water (which goes down about 20') that people often jump off of. Next to that wall is a slippery rock that is another 3' or so above the wall. If you know my kids, you know that Gavin was not in the pool but 5 minutes before he wanted to jump off of that wall. My sister tells me that for sure, I had jumped off of that wall many times when I was younger. I think it must have been traumatic enough to have been wiped from my memory.........but, that is nothing to watching your 6 year old contemplate jumping 10 feet into 20 feet water. He just finished up swim lessons, and is still working at being a strong swimmer, so I made John stand on the ledge under the wall in case Gavin needed help......(John declared 72 not Daddy-warm either, but he's a Daddy and will do almost anything for his kids....did I mention that the grass and fishies in the water freaked him out??) So, Gavin jumped in, doggie paddled to the ledge and declared that "AWESOME". I so see his Uncle Billy in him.........Gavin will be the high adventure, parachuting, thrill seekerer of our family! Eventually John jumped as well, figuring he couldn't let his 6 year old show him up. And, then, much to my surprise, Ian decided to jump too. I was so proud of Ian, as it usually takes him a while to attempt something new and different, and this was definitely out of his comfort box. By the next day, both boys were jumping off of the slippery rock too! Emma was happy to play on the steps, thank God!
The next day, we canoed the creek run..............7 miles long. We had to take 2 canoes because of weight and water levels, which meant that John and I canoed the creek primarily by ourselves. Although Ian turned out to be quite an oarsman. Gavin, on the other hand, couldn't quite figure out the jist of paddling. After a mile, Gavin left my canoe and I got Ian, which was much more enjoyable for all of us. We saw too many turtles to count, a couple of other canoers, and two very large alligators. I've decided that alligator size is relative to your environment...........in a zoo, these gators were probably not very big, but on the side of a creek, 2 feet away, with your children in the canoe, these guys were HUGE. We couldn't convince Gavin though that they were real. He wanted to row over and touch one to see if it would move. See, adrenaline junkie in the making.............. We completed the canoe run in about 5 1/2 hours, which was a couple of hours too long for the boys..........Emma enjoyed the canoe trip by laying on a soft sided cooler in the middle of my canoe and thought it was fun. John and I ate Motrin for dinner that night!
Actually, John's Mom, my parents, my oldest niece, my sister and her two girls all came out and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and made s'mores over our campfire. It was a lot of fun to just hang out by the fire and relax. The next day we went to Mom and Dads to unpack the RV, let the kids swim without fish, and headed home.
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