The Truth Behind Our “Perfect Day”

I love this photo. We made it down into the sinkhole and everyone was so tired they didn’t argue one bit about stopping to take a picture, and they even put their sweaty arms around each other.

Blooper Reel: There was a group tour going on to my left, and I heard no fewer than five times, “Wow, she’s got her hands full,” “Whew. Four boys,” and “Wooo, all boys.” Yes, sweet, informative gawkers, I kinda already know what God blessed us with, go back to looking at the geological phenomenon in front of you.

Right after this picture, we politely made our way through the group (I was so proud of my boys’ manners) to reach the other platform and view a little waterfall and what the boys thought for sure was an animal den. I was going to get a picture of the scenery … and then Sawyer threw a stick into the water, which evoked a gasp from the tour group. I smiled and assured them it was only a stick. Oh, I wish my imaginary videographer had footage of the judgmental looks from the older women in that group. Oy.

As we were heading back up the stairs, Miles dropped the water bottle and it fell beneath the staircase into the mud. We couldn’t reach it and I knew we shouldn’t go over the railing to get it. I was corralling the boys to one side of the walkway, so I could go ask the ranger with the tour group if he could help.

An older (and oh-so-much-wiser-than-the-rest-of-the-world) woman stopped walking and said, “You can’t leave it there. You need to tell the ranger. He should know it’s there. He’ll get it out. You can’t leave it there.”

I was stunned that she assumed I would leave it. I just said, “We’re getting it,” and cornered the two littles so they wouldn’t bound up the stairs without me as Miles got the ranger’s attention. (Sidenote: It was not a big deal; the ranger jumped over the railing, grabbed the bottle and handed it back to us.)

Mother Earth had already walked up the steps, but I hoped she was spying on us and saw that I am indeed a decent person and we retrieved the bottle from the edge of the sinkhole.

When we arrived back at the parking lot, I got the snacks out of the car and we sat at a picnic table to cool down. And take a few “We did it!” selfies.

Blooper Reel: I took more than a dozen photos and every time at least one of them would duck out of the picture, or close his eyes, or put his head down, etc. Only two photos survived the massive deleting.

There was also a dropped Gogurt (and tears) by Finley, but then all three brothers made him feel better by offering him theirs. And there was a game of “I Spy” that drove everyone crazy because Finley just couldn’t wait for anyone to guess what he spied; he’d just blurt it out as soon as he said the color of the object. And there may have been a few grapes thrown at someone’s head while a Star Wars debate ensued.

It really was a great day. Really. And there were soo many moments that could have made it suck … but we persevered. We laughed it off, shook it off, and I only had to tell the boys a few times to knock. it. off.

But, we smiled a lot. And when we got back in the car, we laughed some more about Miles’ butter fingers, Finley’s inability to play “I Spy,” and the 20 comebacks to the mean old lady’s scolding that were just now coming to me. And that made me feel like our exhausting Saturday adventure was a success.

See, I actually like the bloopers better in real life, too. 🙂

Love (and enjoy the bloopers) more,

Dana

*First published 8/2016

**Here is the Facebook Live sharing this post aloud. 🙂