Perfect Day (almost)

Last week, Carol asked me if we had waterfalls in Kansas. I giggled, raised my eyebrows and said there's nothing in Kansas except wheat. LOL. She proceeded to tell me how they hang out at the waterfalls on weekends. She showed us pictures of her Brazilian waterfalls. They are beautiful. The only falls I can think of is Niagra Falls and that a several days drive from here! LOL. I've seen small trickels and small falls in the mountains, BUT, nothing like Niagra or what she was describing.
The next day in the newspaper- "Wichita Eagle"- was an article about waterfalls in Kansas. Seriously? This is craziness! Not only that there are waterfalls in Kansas, but the fact that it came out the day after talking about it! It was fate! We had to go! Not only for Carol, but us and the kids too. My kids have never seen waterfalls, and we've never been around Kansas much. The next day available on the calendar that we didn't have plans, or David didn't have to work was Sunday June 1st. So, it was on, a plan to spend the day at a waterfall in Kansas! Everyone was so excited! I was a little worried...surely they wouldn't measure up to Carol's Brazilian waterfalls. I was afraid she'd be left sad and longing for her Brazilian waterfalls and disappointed with the "Kansas waterfalls" and disappointed with me for trying. Why was I bothering?
Carol assured me that it was okay and it would be another adventure with us for her memories. Not only was it new for her to see waterfalls in the states and Kansas, but it was new for us too. She would get to see me and the kids experience waterfalls for the first time. She would get to spend the day with us a a family.
Sunday June 1st. It was raining in the morning. I was disappointed. I was sure our trip was going to be null and void. We went to church (for Carol's last time). After church, it was bright and sunny and hot. WOOHOO! We came home and packed up the car and ate lunch and about 2pm headed on our way to Elk Falls. East on 400 and South on 99. It was a scenic drive. Christianna fell asleep nearly right away, eventually so did Shanndon and Carol and Ben dozed for a bit too. I mainly read the Kansas fishing regulations booklet that I had picked up at Walmart the other day. Was reading about different fish, laws, daily possesion limits, etc. I did doze for a few minutes toward the end as well.
When we got thier, the kids' mouths dropped. They were so excited! This was going to be awesome! Before heading on the paths and exploring, Christianna needed a diaper change. David headed to the car to do that and I was headed to the car to grab sippy cups and bug spray. We ended up getting into a fight. All hell broke loose. I was not staying with him, we would go somewhere else and he could hitchhike his way home. David tried to grabbed my keys and as he's pulling on them, slicing up my fingers, I (instinctively yet REGRETFULLY) hit him in the face! The children were in the car and I have no idea who saw it, I'm sure Carol did, although she hasn't said anything! Ben was crying hysterically that we weren't going to see the falls. David started to bring up some things from years ago and with the possibilty of inappropriateness, I reminded him not to speak like that in front of the children. Although I was upset that David had now ruined the day in my mind by doing and saying such horrible things, I couldn't stand that Ben was so upset, so we stayed!
Other then that 15 minutes of violence, anger and pain, the day was wonderful. David and I ignored each other on a personal level, but we functioned as parents, smiled at the children, took pictures, played with the children. We explored the falls and trails. The kids took turns throwing sticks down the falls and watching where they went. We found shells with bodies in them and I showed Ben what a "living shell" was about. The kids collected empty shells. They even found a fossilized shell! Shanndon and Christianna climbed like monkeys (and bears according to Shanndon) up the side of the falls. There was another side of the falls that seemed calmer and it was shadier, we had seen people over there earlier adventuring farther out then we could in this area. So we decided to head up to the car, we'd eat dinner and go to the other side.
The other side was really not such a great idea. This looked like it was the "local hang out". There was lots of beer cans and garbage. By the time we got down there, there were other people there as well. Ben fell several times, one time was very severe where he smashed his head on the rocks! Shanndon was kicking his shoes over the falls and ended up losing one of his crocs in the river, which threw him into a full blown fit, since he wanted his croc back. We of course TRIED to explain to the 3 year old that like the sticks he'd thrown into the falls earlier, the shoe was now gone and down the river and that we would not be able to get it back. It was obviously now time to go. All 3 little children were crying and very upset for various reasons.
We had seen several lakes on the trip down so I spoke to David about maybe trying to find one and we could swim or fish. We couldn't find the one we were looking for in Moline, so we headed back north toward home. We figured we'd stop at Fall River State Park. Just north of Moline we found a turtle walking on the side of the road and we picked it up and brought it home. His name is now "Hydro" and he lives in a kids pool with lots of dirt, leaves, grass and this morning I put a small pond of water in there. The kids are thrilled! Anyway, we finally found Fall River.
The place we ended up was totally secluded, there was a river on one side and either a pond, or overflow, or whatever on the other side. We had a great time here. The kids climbed, threw rocks, fished, snacked, hiked. Christianna threw her shoes in the "other" body of water and Carol went to go save them and fell in. This was now her 2nd set of clothes, so she stayed wet the rest of the night. Her camera was in her pocket, so we're waiting for that to dry out and hopefully it still works!!! The shoes were saved though, silly girl-they're just shoes!!! About 8pm, Carol asked if we could start a fire. Everything was so rain drenched, that we didn't know if we could. Luckily I happened to have brought a bunch of newspaper and David just happened to have 2 small logs left over from our trip to the lake Saturday. So the kids went "stick hunting" and we got a fire going! We could now cook those hotdogs we brought (and brought all the fixins for) and we could roast the marshmellows for the S'mores we brought stuff for! We were going to leave, but once the fire was started, we stayed quite a while.
The night was awesome. We sat around the fire looking up at the stars. We saw formations and constellations we hadn't seen before. It was a sea of stars! We cooked and ate, it was the perfect temperature and no bugs out at this time. We had a perfect day! We saw lots of butterflies, listened to various bird songs, frogs, woodpecker, coyotes (which scared the kids!), we saw fish jump out of the water. There was hardly any crying here, the kids were entertained by throwing rocks into the river mostly, lol. David caught one fish for the day. It was so peaceful, serene, magical, beautiful. We left about 11pm. When we arrived home at 1245pm, we diapered and Pj'd the kids real quick and got everyone to bed, unloaded the necessities out of the car and I headed to bed. David skinned and cleaned his fish. It was so awesome!!!
The only thing wrong, other then that 15 minute fight, was that I wanted to connect with David, share kisses, hold hands, etc. and that didn't happen. He was and is very cold, distant. This is our never ending fight-lack of communication. He doesn't ever say anything, except a tiny snippet 4,6, or 10 years down the road! says he has no thoughts, opinions or emotions about anything. Where as I, am very emotional and thoughtfilled. I try and want to share everything with him. He doesn't care for it. So for now, we are parents, we are functioning as such and that's about it. I know people who live like this. They are together kind of-they are friends, they are parents, but that's about it. I used to think it was wierd, but no matter. Now I'm in that situation. It's very hard for me! I love my husband, I like my husband, I guess that's why it's so hard. If I didn't have the strong feelings for him, maybe it would be easier? Oh well, we had an almost perfect day! I came home feeling very blessed!