Freedom

On July 4th, we celebrated our freedom by being free from a little 2 1/2 year old for most of the day! So while Papa and Josiah hung out (thanks Papa!),

we hiked up a river bed to this gloriousness:

It was an incredibly hot hike on the way up, but thankfully we were hiking in the river. At one point we stopped to take a break in a little pool and it was pretty incredible to feel my body temperature lower back to normal. Definitely a needed refreshment!

We stopped at the waterfall to eat lunch and below Nathan and Jamie

reminisce while eating beef jerky and dried mango.

And then we did some more swimming!

Janai climbed to the top... do you see her up there?

Had it not been so hot, I would not have enjoyed this cold mountain water, though Nathan informs me that it was not all that cold.

Look, we're under the waterfall!

And now Nathan is demonstrating his awesome ability to climb the waterfall.

Of course, the trip would not have been complete without playing some kerplunk.

Apparently our timing is off.

But eventually both rocks went kerplunk. And that's the point, right?

Yeah, I know, I'm not sure there's really much point at all to this game.

Except maybe to take pictures.

So other than throw rocks and swim, jumping also occurred. Do you see Janai on the ledge there to the left? Nathan jumped from there when we first arrived, but I didn't have the camera out yet. There was a group of Chinese men here when we first arrived and while Nathan was getting read to jump, one man just kept shaking his head and saying "no" while two others got out their cameras. I'm glad we were able to be stupid Americans on the 4th of July! :)

So there she is mid-jump. It looks like she's on another rock, but she's not.

She's in the air.

Though I don't have a picture of Nathan jumping, here are a couple of small dives.

And yes, we were fully clothed during the hike, the swimming,

and the (wet) bus ride home.

And there I am. I played my game of kerplunk, swam a little,

and then just took pictures.

So after the aforementioned wet bus ride home and a bit of rest, we gathered the child and the Papa and headed to the beach for some food on sticks. Because the 4th of July requires food cooked over fire, regardless of what country you're in.

Of course, Josiah just wanted to blow out the fire.

Isn't that a pretty boy? I'm not going to cut his hair until I see some real curls.

Anyway, we had lots of yummy food... brats, chicken wings...

... and corn! (And chips, watermelon, marshmallows, etc.)

Eventually Robb showed up from his silly meetings. Hi Robb!

We continued to have a lovely time, though I have no more pictures. Josiah was quite tired and alternated between simply laying down on the ground and running around spastically. It was very hard for him to be around pointy sticks and fire and not have free reign of each. Maybe next year he'll be old enough to roast his own food.

But he will never be old enough to jump from that ledge. Do you hear that, Nathan?