Swimming at Starved Rock

We decided for Easter we would go hiking at a local state park  Starved Rock State Park  is about 2 hours from our house and then we were going to my brothers for the night.

The boys climbed the giant steps

We did some fake running

the boys and wall-e found some sand

we found some wildflowers

then we found a great canyon with a waterfall

this is me dropping the camera and running because Jordan fell in

It just turns into more drama after that.  There was no way out of the pond and I was to far away.  The first guy to help slipped and fell in so his friend bent to help him and he fell in.  If you are keeping count there is 2 grown men, Jordan and Wall-e in a very cold pond with no way out.  I am now at the top and Jordan is screaming and the two men can't swim.  A third man takes off his coat and bends over to grab a hand and slips right in.  Unfortunately his keys fell out of his pocket and went for a swim also.  I couldn't catch anyones attention  so they sunk.  The father put Jordan on his back and swam out the other end with him.  The people at the top grabbed a tree branch and pulled Jordan out.  The two men who couldn't swim inched their way around to see if they could get pulled up the cavern also.

At this point my son is screaming I killed my best friend and I realized wall-e   went in also.  So still in the water is walle and the only keys to a families car.  The family has 5 kids and the father has a cut on his head.  I empty my pockets and jump in.   I search for walle-e and the key.  The water is freezing and very mucky.  As I am diving underneath to find the keys I can hear Jordan yelling Mom is dead so my dog, Patty decided to check on me and fell in herself.  In the water is a dog with a leash attached sitting on my head and me treading water with jeans, sweater, and tennis shoes. Finally I get the dog to swim to a log and a 5th guy comes down the hill to save the dog.  I give up at this point but my legs are so cold that I don't have the strength to walk up the wall while holding on to the tree branch so there is no way I am getting out.  I crawl along the ledge that is barely big enough and make it up the other side.

At this point you would think our drama would be done but you are wrong.  Jordan won't walk out so we had to carry him.  Luckily I had clothes in the car so I was able to change him but no shoes.  The father of the family decided that since they couldn't drive their car they were going to pack up and leave.  We ended up giving his wife and 4 girls a ride home to Plainfield and the 1st 2 guys and their wife gave  the father and his son a ride.

My brother was able to run to the store after church and get a new walle for us.  A really good thing since Jordan was still crying that he killed his best friend.

 

Happy Easter we only ruined 3 families day at the park

P.S. Jordan was never close to drowning.  His head never went under water he managed to stay on the water shelf