Hobble Creek Canyon

At the first of the summer, for fear of the kids getting bored,  I made a huge list of fun things we could do.  It turns out that none of us got bored.  There was a whirlwind of things to do all the time and I found that we didn't get to some fun things I had been looking forward to.

I guess I got a little nostalgic toward the end.  We live in a ward where lots of people are about 10 years ahead of us in life.  I see their children get married.  I see their children go on missions.  I see the moms say over and over how fast it went.  I look at my little boys and I want to hang onto them, while it is the season to hang on to them.  The reality of them leaving is quite real to me.  I want them to spread their wings when the time is right, but right now while they are all in the nest and still at the ages where they like being in the nest, I want to embrace them. 

Soooo, with those thoughts and the lingering thought that they will be in school soon and therefor not spending as much time with me.  We hit it hard the last few weeks of summer.

I let the kids take friends, when possible, and we went to 7 Peaks, Jolley's Ranch, the splash pad and the dollar theater with treats.  

Our family night on Monday for the month of August and the end of July was getting an ice cream cone at Macey's and then playing at the splash pad and park nearby.  

I love being in nature and truly enjoyed the times we made it to the creek at Jolley's Ranch. 

 

Christian is floating on a log that he and his friend dragged into the creek.

Christian and his friend Macarthur

Porter was on a mission to catch a fish either by hand or spear.

In the search to catch a fish, Christian found a snake. 

 It was too big for my taste.

He assured me that is wasn't a rattle snake because it didn't have a rattle.

But then I saw that the end of it's tail had been cut off - somehow.

I panicked and said, what if someone cut off it's rattle.

My friend that was with me said that if it was a rattle snake it would have bitten him.

Then..   

...it bit him.

This picture is of it's initial side bite.  

Soon it was able to turn it's head and latch onto him really good.

Christian couldn't get it off.

He put it under the water to get it loose.

After it let go, he chucked it head over cut off tail into a tree.

I would have felt bad for the snake as it smacked the branch, 

but it bit my son so I shrugged it off.

Christian put mud on it, as per a stranger's advice - to draw the toxins out.

Rest assured it wasn't a rattle snake.

Either that or my son has super human strength and rattle snake venom won't affect him.

Yeah, I like that idea. 

Maybe it was a rattle snake.