A Tubing Adventure

Today we experienced a Tubing Extravaganza.  It has been a while since I last went tubing on the river and I recognize there needs to be rules and guidelines for eco-friendly entertainment, but I was not very happy with all of the restrictions.  I was, on the other hand, happy with the amount of wildlife and other goodies I may or may not have brought home.  I've attached a picture of myself collecting some of the goodies I found while tubing...it is a mighty wide river.

We arrive at the landing area and are greeted by two little boys with tiny turtles.  One turtle is the size of my thumb nail and is the tiniest snapping turtle I've ever seen.  The other turtle is a green turtle and is about the size of Brett's palm. The boys give us the tiny turtle and I in turn give it to a park ranger to return it to its natural habitat.  Huge crocodile tears pour down Brett's face as he tries to understand my reasoning.  Notice, we have not even gotten in the water yet!!

We finally make it to the water with our friends, our children, their children and a cooler.  Brett spends the entire ride searching for a turtle to take home.  Thadd spends the entire trip collecting water plant specimen for our fish tank and pond.  Chloe and her friend spend the entire time pawning off their tubes with us and acting like river mermaids and the other four of us TRY and relax.  At one point Brett jumps out of his tube and starts swimming away from us.  Thadd asks where he is going and Brett screams, "YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME WHEN A BIG FISH IS AROUND!!!"  We looked at each other and start laughing.  Obviously we need to deal with his attitude problem, but that statement pretty much sums up Brett's entire life!!  Nothing is important to him if it doesn't involve fish, turtles, lizards, snakes or frogs.  I recall a particular situation where he went missing from his kindergarten class last year due to a frog necessity.  There may have also been a fire drill during the frog incident, maybe.

Half way through the tubefest we encounter a family who found a baby turtle.  They decided to bequeath the turtle to Brett at the end of the ride.  We arrive at the end of the ride and wait and wait and wait and wait.  I think they got out early and so Brett is again crying like a sissy girl...come to think of it, my daughter never cried like this and actually I'm not sure girls whine as much as boys whine.  Just an observation.  We make it to the car and Brett and I jump in and grab our towels.  I reach for the melted cup  of ice from our trip over two hours earlier.  I gulp down the entire cup.  My husband looks at me and says, "Did you just drink that water?  I put the plants in there!! GROSS!!!!"  I smack my lips and squint my eyes trying to see if I taste plant.  Nope, delicious refreshing water is all I taste!!

We decide to stop for some food at New Braunfels Smokehouse.  I had a delicious Turkey Dijon on wheat sandwich like the ones I used to eat when I was pregnant with Chloe.  It was not as delicious as I remember, but the BBQ sauce was delicious.  I think BBQ sauce is a MUST LIKE requirement for all Texans.  The trip would not be complete without a stop at the outlets.  I made the mistake of visiting the St. John store.  Love everything, but a $325 shirt is not my idea of fun.  We made some quick purchases and headed home.  I'm so glad to finally be home!!

I hope all of you had a great Labor Day Weekend with your families whether you were tubing, beach going, grilling, or just relaxing!!