An eagerly anticipated annual event for the water-play-starved kids in our little town is the Scout Waterslide.  The kids {and their parents and leaders} do an amazing job of using our community’s proximity to the river to create a super fun waterside that recycles all of the water back into the river thanks to a perfectly placed storm water drain!

Ironically, the day it was scheduled was the one day of the last 2 months where it was overcast and drizzly.  The kids didn’t care.  I even had to bust the umbrella out of the truck!

Once Ethan had slid off down the slide more times than I could count it was time to swim in the river.  He surprised Dave and I both by setting off on a long distance swim across the river to a bank under the pylons where some older boys were having fun with the mud.  He powered across without stopping, seeing him confidently tackle something I knew he was a bit scared of made all of those years of $$$$ swimming lessons worth it.

Mostly it was just the best seeing kids being kids the old-fashioned way, enjoying their community and feeling like they belong somewhere, to something bigger than just their own family.