Memorial Day at the Ranch

I'm not sure if you can read the sign or not.....it says:

"Blue Mountain Ranch

John P. McCarthy

Rebecca McCarthy"

This is a great view of the Blue Mountains from the property.

On a clear day you can see 60 miles from the deck of their house.

This a picture of El Hefe himself, Toby's dad, John McCarthy. John doesn't normally look like this....he was just being silly for the camera. He was a lot of fun sharing the history of the area and giving us a personal tour of the properties and the new house they are building up on the mountain.

(Sorry for the tiny pictures. They are from Toby's camera and his online picasa album. This is a big as I can make them)

It was just a few days after Jonathan's birthday and before my golden birthday on 29th. Thea gave us "his and hers" paddling shirts as birthday gifts.

We drove the Jeep and kayaks down to the Llano River, which flows through one of the ranch properties, and spent most of the weekend on the water.

Most of the river crew is pictured above: (L to R) Colin, Thea, Tobias, Jonathan, Emily, and Veronica. Not pictured are Toby's little brother J.P., Kayla, Jesse, and Cody.

Thea is a professional when it comes to lounging on the river -- complete with floppy hat, shades, and her own floating lounger with built in cup holders.

Jonathan caught on quickly, floating with Toby on the giant inflatable fun center.

Jonathan and one of the guys went for a short paddle on the river. We had beautiful weather conditions for being outside all weekend.

Toby wanted a kayak lesson. He watched from the water as I demonstrated all the strokes. He did a great job and even performed a successful self rescue before the day was over. We only came away with a few bruises.



Around one of the bends in the river was an old quarry with really deep water perfect for cliff diving. Of course, we were safe and jumped feet first just in case.

Jonathan is pictured above demonstrating a classic "iron cross" jump.

Tobias and Jonathan use the ladder to climb back up for round two.

Thea jumps in!




The photographer strikes a pose and....




....finally puts down the camera and hat to take the plunge as well.
It was so fun I ended up jumping at least two more times!


It was a great weekend making new friends, seeing more of Texas and where Tobias grew up, and spending time with my sis.

We stopped in San Antonio on the way home and spent an hour walking around downtown so Jonathan could have his own "Remember the Alamo" experience.