Johnson's Shut-in State Park

This week we took a little vacation to Southeast Missouri to visit a couple state parks. First up: Johnson's Shut-in State Park. I kind of knew a little about this, but was amazed AMAZED once we were actually there. How have I never been here before? So cool.

Here's the view from the observation deck. It doesn't quite do it justice, but you can kind of see what it's like. Lots of rocks, lots of water, lot of fun.

I am, ahem, not the most sure-footed person (remember posts about me tripping up and down the stairs? Have you seen me walk?) but I needed pictures of this fun day. So Bobby carried my camera around his neck, allowing me to scramble over the rocks/try not to fall/try to keep up with girls. I did quite well, for me anyway. Then once we got to a spot and the girls started jumping, he'd hand the camera back to me. It worked quite well, and I'm so thankful he did that for me.

Here's the first little waterfall we came to.

When we came to the first jumping spot, Bobby went first. The girls were a little shocked; I don't think they'd put two and two together just yet to figure out what was going on. Both girls needed a little reassurance/assistance to jump that first time, but after that, it was on like donkey kong.

Then they discovered they could slide as well as jump. Whee!

We moved down the shut-ins to this gigantic water hole with a couple good jumping rocks. Bobby had to go first to show them how it's done. The water was probably 25-30 feet deep here. Crazy!

Sliding...the water felt soooo good.

Love this one of Kaylin..arms and legs everywhere!

I think they were all 3 supposed to jump at the same time...oops.

Here's proof I did get in the water...I didn't want to do crazy jumps off boulders, but I enjoyed watching them, and I enjoyed swimming, climbing on the rocks, and doing little slides.

This was Kaylin's infamous fall...this rock was getting a little slippery at the top, and Kaylin's foot slipped. THANK GOD she fell forward and not backward! She did a little chest flop. She was done with that rock at that point, and never did it again.  That was the only scary moment, which wasn't all that scary because I didn't see her slip. :)

This was Macy's favorite place to jump. I sat and watched her forever, jumping again and again and again.

Definitely a place where you, as a parent or a child, can't have fear. As a parent, you just have to let them go--help them understand the safety rules, where to put their feet, etc., then let them be kids. You can't have fear that they will hurt themselves, otherwise you'll put that fear in their head. I banged my arm pretty good when I slipped in a hole, but other that that, we walked away thankfully with no bruises/broken bones. 

It was an amazing trip... the shut-ins were very neat, and I'm so glad we went and the girls were able to experience it. It's a trip I know they will remember forever. We spent the entire day there, stopping for a picnic lunch, then we were so tired we didn't cook over the fire that night--had to visit the local Lazy River Cafe for dinner and ice cream.