Waterfall Glen

Someday I will figure out how to find time to blog on the busy, busy weekends. In the meantime, you'll have to put up with posts meandering in late on Tuesdays. Sorry about that!

By the way, the advertising on the right: is it obnoxious? I put it up using Google AdSense as a trial run and can't decide if it's worth keeping. If you have experience with blog ads, please let me know!

On Sunday afternoon Mum called me up and asked if Frank and I wanted to join them for a picnic dinner at Waterfall Glen. 

We've been going there for hikes and picnics and just plain exploring since I was a little girl. I've always loved that place. It was our "little Narnia" (as Lindsey so beautifully puts it).

Fun fact: this is the largest waterfall in Illinois. Other fun fact: it's man-made. Frank said, "On the East Coast, this wouldn't even count as a waterfall." Yeah...

We packed a picnic dinner from Jimmy John's, and after dinner, we went wading and exploring through the water. Frank and Joseph found crawdads, frogs, and even a snake (allegedly—I didn't see it and I'm not sure I believe them. They might just have been trying to scare us).

(Update: Frank confirmed it was a stick and they were just trying to scare us. I knew it!!!)

The girl sitting next to me is our family's summer exchange student from Spain. She's absolutely the sweetest. I discovered that she loves Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (she's reading The Valley of Fear right now, which I adored when I read it in middle school) so we totally bonded. Hmm... why do books always end up being the glue in my friendships? Something to ponder...

Hope you had a great weekend, and the start of your week is going well!