The Springs

Normally our springs have total visibility. Like to the bottom whether that is 12 feet or 30 feet. But due to a lot of rain last week, the river connected to the springs flooded and made the springs "dirty." 

The water is not usually brown like this. There was very little visibility.

Spring water is 68F all the time so the water is very cold no matter the air temperature. It was sunny yesterday, but only 70F air temperature. Still, the kids had fun.  We rented a wet suit for Tyler, but they didn't have child sized ones. We didn't make anyone go in the cold water that didn't want to. 

Jessica, of course, has a wet suit that Uncle Ken bought for her. Unfortunately, she forgot the basic rule of holding your mask when diving in, and her $80 mask went to the bottom. It was about 12 feet here. She was having trouble staying down long enough to find it (in about a foot visibility) using Tyler's mask.

So it was big brother to the rescue. Some divers said they'd get it later if she couldn't find it, but we didn't need them. There were two different training classes there. Not a good day for it. You obviously couldn't even see down to the training platform or the entrance to the caves. The more advanced classes do low visibility and night dives, but not beginners.

He wasn't sure about the cold water, but gave it a try.

Tyler's mermaid impression.

I grilled while they were in the water.

I was going to check how well done the steaks were, but  Jessica wanted to use her dive knife. We had hot dogs and hamburgers with us too in case I burnt up the steaks! The kids ate the hot dogs, but we brought the hamburgers home and had them for supper. 

Divers and their knives!

We decided to go to a smaller spring that had been under construction to see if it was finally done. They'd put up cement walls around the edges, which I liked. But they removed them to make it more natural. Much better visibility at this one, but it's really small.

Adam really wanted to go but had to work. I told him we'll go again this summer and hopefully have clear water. There's a spring about 4-5 hours away the kids want to dive at. There's a beach too, so we might go there this summer. The kids would need to rent tanks. Jessica has much higher certifications that Tyler and Rick, but it's part of her major. She got basic and advanced first semester and is now doing nitrox, science and something else. Maybe search and rescue?

The hockey was actually Thursday evening and the springs was Friday, but I forgot about these pictures.

Adam doesn't have skates. At the end, Tyler took off his skates, and he and  Adam played some one on one. It was lively. I have video, but it's not downloaded.

We are not in the greatest neighborhood, and the houses in the background are not well cared for at all. We have a double wide manufactured home, but we try to keep our house and lawn in good repair. Kiara loves to dig so the yard is not in good shape, but it's mowed and trash free.

It's actually quite warm out, but we have a big problem with gnats so that's why the kids have jackets with hoods (except Kaleb who didn't wear one). We still got a lot of bites.

Jasmine and Adam made strawberry muffins from scratch with real strawberries. He made chili for lunch which will be on the what's cooking post in a couple of days, went to work, then came home and made the muffins.

I'll be posting recipes and pictures from what the kids cooked in March and hopefully pictures from tomorrow. Hoping for good weather.

If you've been reading for a long time, you might remember our very memorable first trip to the smaller springs! Here's the link to that post.

First trip to the smaller springs