reconciliation

Recently, after I picked Eva up from playing at her friend's house (I should point out that she left very reluctantly), she informed me that she "had to pray a lot while she was there."

Ummm... what?

I asked her what she had to pray about, and apparently she was concerned that her friend would hurt her (I guess they found an arrow of some sort).

We've had this friend over many times and she has always been sweet and fun, so I was surprised that Eva would have felt fearful with her (especially since she didn't even want to leave her house!).

Ever since, Eva has not wanted to play with one of her formerly best friends, so I set about to see if we could come to some sort of reconciliation. I planned a trip to Bridal Veil Falls, and invited Riley to come along. (I figured that getting together on neutral territory might be easier. Eva agreed.)

Emily joined us, as well, although I neglected to document that fact with a single photo. (She even brought me a fountain drink!)

Eva: "Riley, you will love Emily!"
R: "But what if I don't?"
E: "Don't worry, everyone loves Emily!" (It's true.)

Riley is much more adventurous than Eva. She kept wanting to climb the steep hill to the other path. Eva wanted to join her – especially since there were many snail shells to be found – but she was definitely out of her comfort zone.

At one point, Eva screamed, "Save me! I'm going to die here!" Fortunately, Max was on hand to rescue her.

They threw sticks off the bridge and then ran to the other side to watch them float down the river. Unfortunately, they couldn't see the sticks. Perhaps they were too small.

Emily spotted many cool spiderwebs. I took pictures of them, but couldn't tell if any of them were turning out. They were!

We met this adorable Weimaraner puppy, Dante. His owner let the girls pet him and give him little treats, but he was shaking with a combination of excitement and trepidation. Adorable.

They paused for a little picnic.

Teamwork.

There was much hand-holding, which I took to be a good sign. (Check out that height difference!)

We finally made it up to the falls. I love that we live so close to beautiful places like this!

Again, Eva was braver than I thought she would be. She stepped on rocks and walked on a log. She ended up getting wet up to her chest! Brrrr.

Again, Max came to the rescue. Riley dropped her lunch bag because it had a spider on it, and the girls refused to go back and retrieve it. Luckily, Max is not (that) afraid of spiders.


It was a beautiful day and I think my mission reconciliation was accomplished. (Now if only Eva can go back to school soon!!)