Swingin' like Tarzan on the Frio

So our sweet friends the Garretts invited us to the Frio for a weekend in his parent's cabin.  Who could say no to a sweet FREE trip like that?!  Not this family who is always on a tight budget.  Even if it meant leaving at 9pm after a final VBS closing and not arriving until 2am - who cares - we're there!  Ok, so it took a little coaxing to get Billy to make the haul that late, I bribed him with an extended overnight stay in San Marcos and free tickets to Schlitterbahn which would be our only Summer Vacation this year.  (and other wifely things that I won't post here)

We arrived around 1:45 in the am to a house full of friends sippin wine, sharing stories, and kids tucked away in a house clearly built with grandkids in mind.  The next day we headed to the Frio.  Mindful that with the drought this year - the river would be very low.  We set up our shade tent, threw our lawn chairs and coolers in the river and Timmy cranked up the river tunes.  Every 100 ft was a tree with a giant rope swing and kids and adults plunging into the cold Frio river.  Hesitant, Billy andI decided to sit and chat, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the plunge or not.  We kayaked with Kaitlin, had a picnic lunch, and thoroughly enjoyed the day

Later in the day, I decided that I should try the rope swing - I mean after all this girl did NOT beat cancer to sit around and not take life by the horns right?!  Well after the first swing, I decided that I fell in way too fast and it was not because I was 42, no, not at all, it had to be because I could not get a running start...that's it.  So I decided the rope down the river looked better with a better take off. So we all ran to it.  
I saw some roots and repeatedly told all the children to make sure they swung out to avoid hitting them when they landed.  Next it was my turn and I grabbed the rope with a rope extension that some genious had piggybacked onto the main rope so you could reach it easier.  Somehow when I jumped, the extension rope coiled around my arm and when I let go...it did NOT let go.  There are no printable words to insert here to describe the pain that came next, but the rope on my arm was not the worst part...no it was the tree root that I straddled when the extension rope prevented me from going out far enough.  Let's just say I teared up and wanted to pack up my toys and go home. 

The worst part was to come later and it looked something like this:

So when we left the next day to go to Schlitterbahn on the way home, Billy begged me to cover it up - hmmm.... somehow I forgot to pack long sleeves for a river trip!  So I told him he better be really nice to me all day or I would act real submissive and tell him " I'm sorry honey, I promise I'll be good!" in front of everyone so they would think he did it! lol  He didn't see the humor in my threat. 

Even with the injury, I am glad that I jumped and that I didn't sit on the sideline.  Life is more fun when you go for it - even if you get a few bumps and bruises along the way ;)