Another milestone, a dip in leech river

After our kayaking and swimming adventure the day before, the girls were itching to swim again. We planned to visit a small nearby beach on a lake but the parking lot was packed and since none of us are keen on crowds, we decided to swing by the river to see if people were swimming there.

This would be the same river that we ran in to leeches last year so it was a big step that they even agreed to take a look-sy there.

There were quite a few people swimming in the river but we found a quiet spot to dip our feet and contemplate a quick jump-in, jump-out to cool off.

We were standing in ankle-deep water debating the merits of this idea when a woman who had just been swimming further down the river stopped by and asked us if it was muddy where we were standing.

I replied that yes it was a little muddy.

She replied that there were probably leeches there (at which point my kids walked out of the water) because she'd had a run in with them in the area and suggested we try the sand bar where she had just been for a swim.

The kids took her suggestion (our research on leeches last year confirmed that leeches do NOT like sandy areas, mud is where they hang out) and after discovering the sand bar was quite large, decided they were so hot that taking a quick dip would "probably be OK."

I guess if it takes a 90-degree day to get over your fear of leeches because you're hot (and desperate) enough and want to get cool, then so be it.

I did debate telling the girls a little while later about the young boy with a leech on him (he was not at the sand bar and I watched his mom pulled off the sucker without fuss which led me to believe they'd been to this swimming spot before) but they were playing in the water and I didn't want to ruin their fun.

And I'm happy to report the Almeida kids did NOT encounter any leeches after about a 1/2 hour swimming around the sand bar.

This short visit turned out to be a great life lesson about overcoming fear. The girls had a bad experience in this river but they proved to themselves that they could get past that fear and not let it stop them from doing something they wanted to do.

Although none of us are keen on swimming in a river known to have leeches, we're now open to the idea of a quick dip to cool off when we can't swim anywhere else.

On the sand bar of course. I have no desire to re-live/re-teach this particular lesson.