Bear Creek Park

The weather has been so beautiful lately! Ian and I couldn't resist getting out and checking out some of the local parks we hadn't been to yet, especially since Nana wanted to come with us!

Bear Creek Park has some nice, paved walking trails. There were several bridges along the way.

We saw lots of families out and lots of cyclists. Once Ian starts bike riding, this would be a fun place to go.

Ian and Nana posing in front of a gigantic cow (back right blob). You really can't see it well in this picture, but it was fun for us to see.

There was a tree right off the path that had a low hanging branch (at least low enough to touch), so we couldn't resist posing!

Another bridge!

Ian taking a breather on a little wooden gazebo by the bench in the above picture.

The trails were really long! They actually went under a major roadway and kept going.

One of the many beautiful houses we saw along the way. This one is for sale! Now just to talk James into moving...haha.

A friendly little squirrel greeted us from his perch in the branches.

We saw lots of pets out there too. Ian laughed and laughed every time he saw a pup-pup! He especially loved this pooch. He actually waved at this dog and his friendly owner! (Ian has just started waving and it is so cute to watch. This was the second time he waved at anyone - the first was at a random lady at Target the other day who was stopping to say hi to him.)

Bear Creek Park also boasts this beautiful covered bridge! It is one of the reasons I wanted to go check out the park.

Not quite as peaceful and relaxing-looking in the winter, but still a nice feature of the park.

A little side tangent here. We actually started our walk at the main park area, passed this covered bridge, took a picture, and kept going. I had perched Ian on the railing for the picture, thinking it would look cute. Once we were standing up there though, I started getting really nervous, especially when I looked down and realized I couldn't see the bottom of the creek. However, we just continued our walk and I didn't think too much about it.

Later that night after I got home from work, I started telling James about our walk. I guess those uneasy feelings had been mulling all day and started spilling out. James is very calm and often talking to him has that effect on me. Holding Ian in that position on the railing had really, really scared me and I didn't even realize how much so until I found myself sobbing to James, "I could have lost our baby today!" I was so scared that Ian could have thrown himself forwards and out of my arms, fallen in the creek, and I wouldn't have been able to find him in the murky water in time. In actuality, I had a pretty darn good grip on him (thank goodness for the pictures so I could double check) and my mom and I - and probably several strangers in good ole Texas neighborly fashion- would have been in that water in an instant and gotten my baby out had he fallen in. (The bridge is right in front of a spillway/dam, so there wasn't much worry of a current.)

BUT, it still really freaked me out. I didn't end up going to bed until 4am - after Ian had woken up and I gotten to nurse and cuddle with him. Instead of sleeping, I was on the computer googling water safety and techniques for saving a child's life if s/he fell in a creek. I even called the city park offices to the next day to find out how deep the creek ran (probably four to five feet) in that area. Now, I don't normally freak out about stuff like this. People who know me can testify to that. Having thought about it a lot for the past few days, I think it was just a first time Mommy realization that I could lose my baby and how devastating that would be, especially if it was something I could have avoided. It hit me hard in a way I hadn't ever really experienced before. Other mommas tell me this is just the first of many times though - great!

I'm over my little freak out incident now for the most part. We really do have an amazing God who is capable of such things as parting oceans, much less of making sure a little baby stays in his momma's arms when he needs to. I know Ian's life is in God's hands - I just don't think I had ever quite realized how much faith that was gonna take to trust Him at all times.

I also now have a water safety plan in mind in case Ian ever does fall in a creek and a few prevention plans in place to make sure he doesn't. One website I read said only 39% of parents polled really understood potential water safety hazards and had appropriate plans/measures in place for good solid water safety. I have to admit I had never really considered such a family friendly park to hold potential dangers for my baby, especially since I grew up in West Texas where none of our parks had much water! In a way, I'm glad we had this scare so I can be better prepared for future outings. I was already planning on Mommy and Me swim classes for Ian and me this summer, but now there is definitely no doubt in my mind we will be at class as soon as it is warm enough! In the meantime, we'll keep enjoying our walks and be thankful that we have such beautiful places nearby to go walking.