Adventures at the Park

So it wouldn't be a normal Andria S day if I didn't have some sort of random crazy drama happen around here. So yesterday I thought I'd take the boys to the park to feed the ducks at the lake before we had a late morning doctor appt. (Both boys have been congested for awhile and I wanted to make sure ears, etc were good to go before we fly out to North Carolina this week). So we get to the park and we cruise over to the lake. Aidan was loving it and so excited to feed the ducks. So I do what any proud mom would do, and pull out the camera. Except that as I'm pulling it out of my pocket and trying to turn it on with one hand and restrain my son from throwing himself in the lake with the ducks with the other hand, I DROPPED the camera. And the camera bounced and went PLOP right into the LAKE.

So I do what any rational mother would do. I say a few choice words that I hope my sons don't remember and then I start calling my husband and closest friends to see what they would do. There's no one around to help and I can't find any sticks to try and test how deep the water is. I'm really not wanting to climb into the lake. It's green, murky, and filled with duck poop. Who knows what diseases are floating around in it. But we did come to feed the ducks, so I decide to think about what to do and finish feeding the ducks with my son. It's definitely worth trying to retrieve the camera since it is shock proof and water proof and probably survived the trip to the bottom of the lake. So after we finish feeding the ducks I decide to take a walk through the park and maybe we'll come across a maintenance worker or a stick... someone or something that can help. Oh, you might have wondered where Colin was during all of this... sound asleep in the stroller chilling in the shade of course.

Well we walk for a bit. I find no one and nothing to help so we walk back to the scene of the accident and I make the monumental decision to GO IN THE LAKE. I make sure the stroller is in the shade and Aidan is strapped in tight. Then I give him a snack to keep him occupied before I roll my shorts up, sit on the cement ledge next to the lake, and gingerly put my feet in the water. I slowly lower them until I feel the bottom of the lake and felt thankful for two things. One, the water only went up to my knees and Two, the bottom of the lake was cement and I did not have to put my feet in slimy, yucky mud. I spend about 10 minutes "sweeping" the ground in the area where the camera went in. I walked back and forth shuffling my feet along the bottom slowing working my way from the ledge out and from left to right. Eventually I had to give up my search because we did have a doctor's appt to get to and I never did find the camera. I lifted myself back out of the lake and proceeded to use probably half a package of wipes to clean my legs off and then slathered them in hand sanitizer.

I was so annoyed that I actually went in the lake and still didn't retrieve the camera. I should have just jumped in right away when I dropped it and knew exactly where it went. But I think I needed the 20 minutes or so to talk myself into my adventure in the lake. Aidan of course thought it was just grand that his mommy went in the lake... hopefully he doesn't remember this and try to take his own adventure in the lake the next time we go!

Here's a few pictures I took with my phone after the camera took the dive!