the past few days' adventures...

...have been quite unique.  It's not everyday you get to romp around in a river!

Monday through Wednesday my mom, sisters, and I went to visit my grandparents in Ruidoso.  It was so much fun!  My grandparents own a cattle ranch, so when we go see them we spend most of our time visiting the cows and walking by the river.  Enjoy the pics! (Beware--there's a lot of them)

 Obviously, if you find a river, it's necessary to find yourself in it. :)

We walked along the river to the end of my grandparents' property, and then we saw a sign stuck in the water.

And I said, "Hark!  I will go and free this sign, which is surely old and valuable and in pristine condition."

And I crossed over the river in a very graceful and proper manner.

When I finally reached the sign and stepped into the water, I was overcome with the knowledge that I had no clue what I was stepping into in the moss that covered the bottom of the river.

I wrung my hands in despair.

And my family feared greatly for my safety.

Hahahaha.

Finally I found a long branch and was able to hook it on the edge of the sign to pull it towards me.

But I think the entire growth of moss along the riverbed was attached to that sign, because it was heavy.  It took me ages to pull it out.

And after all that, we couldn't even see what the bottom half said.

So I bid farewell to the wretched piece of junk and started down the river, hoping to find an easier crossing than the one by which I had previously come over.

Ellie came to my side to help me find an easier crossing.

And then she said, "You know what?  I think I'll try and scale the sheer dropoff just to see if I can do it."

And I said, "You go on ahead.  I'll wait for you to fall while I try to find a stable rock to stand on."

Ahem.  Obviously, that didn't happen.

Ellie continued on, intent on scaling the side of the dirt wall.  She succeeded...

And then she came back down to help me.

She said, "Come on!  I'll just haul you up onto the dropoff with me, even if there aren't any footholds to be found!"

We met with failure again.

And I lost my shoe.

We proceeded onward, and I carried my lone shoe.

Soon we were upon our next challenge.  The ground just dropped off into the water, so we had to swing around a tree to get to the other side.

Ellie said, "Come on!  It's easier than it looks."

Ahem.

We continued on, having come too far to turn back.

Eventually we made it to a safe crossing, after several other hazards. :)

The next day it was Chloe who found herself trapped on the other side of the river.  Ellie came to help her.