One evening of the family reunion, we retreated to the cool weather and beauty of the mountain pines up at Spruces campground. We arrived early and played games, relaxing in the refreshing atmosphere. We noticed that the reserved site was alongside a river. I felt a little apprehensive about that because I knew we'd have to keep an extra eye on Connor (was that feeling foreshadowing on what would happen?). Once Ammon's family arrived, his sisters wanted to take Connor down by the river, first Sarah and then Amy. A few minutes later, I looked up to see my father-in-law sprinting to the river so I quickly yelled for Ammon to sprint down there too. You guessed it, Connor fell in. The water was cold and fast-moving. Amy looked away from Connor for a moment and saw out of the corner of her eye a branch that hung over the river shake and then heard the splash. Before she could react, she said Connor had already traveled about 5 feet down the river! She jumped right in and got him out but the current was so rapid that she could only pull Connor to the far shore so my father-in-law waded across to get Connor. He was of course crying and very cold. He had tumbled around in water but miraculously had no cuts, bruises or bumps on the head. What a blessing.
I quickly changed his clothes and was grateful that all of our dirty clothes were in the trunk of the car. Thankfully we also had some extra clothes available for Amy too while we dried both of their clothes and shoes out by the fire.
Here's a shot of the drying items around the ring of the fire and one of Connor and Amy in dry clothes after the ordeal. I'm so grateful to you Amy and thank you again for your quick thinking in getting my boy out of the river!
Ok so I said water "scares" so yes, there were two! The next day we had a 4th of July party at Ammon's aunts community park and pool. Connor and I played in the pool just fine floating around on the pool chairs while Ammon was in the deep end with the cousins playing diving games.
Then Connor decided he wanted to go over and visit daddy so I let him get out of the pool. I thought he saw daddy move to the other side of the pool but apparently he didn't nor did he seem to realize daddy was not in the pool but was alongside watching the action (that's why I let him go over there without me walking with him). So, it was rather shocking when Connor got to the deep end and slid in along the wall. From the shallow end I could see the top of his head so I thought he was holding on to the edge of the pool but as I got closer I could see his hands were not on the edge. All the cousins were around him but they were not paying any attention to him because of their game. I finally yelled to uncle Chris, who was also playing, to grab Connor. He quickly wheeled around and yanked him out of the water. He said Connor was in up to his forehead and was just treading water with all his might. Again, Connor was unharmed, not even coughing or gasping for air. He must have instinctively inhaled before he went under. Connor and I just sat and cuddled for a long while as I told him how scary and dangerous what he did was. We talked about how important it is to not get in without an adult, etc, etc. I told him he would learn to swim in his swimming class he would start the next week (thankfully I had signed him for lessons before we went out of town). After this happened, several people asked me how I was doing. I just didn't know how to answer or react. I mean, my nerves were shot. Two scares in as many days-- that was just a bit much for a momma to bear.
You know, I had always heard that child drownings are silent but I never knew until this scare. I thought I'd hear splashing or yelling but there was not a sound. Quite a reality check for me, and hopefully for all of us, to be extra careful with our kids around water.
What a blessing that Connor was unharmed. I thank God for that.
All the younger cousins got involved in various games: Settlers of Catan, Oh Heck (Shanghai), and speed Scrabble.
The youngest kids, including Connor, played a follow-the-leader game where they crept around like cavemen or zombies with big sticks. Here's a shot of them behind Connor with the ice chest.
