When we realized we had a wide open day to do absolutely whatever with, we immediately made up our minds to head down to Ohiopyle. It had been two years since we last visited, which was about two years too long since we really have been wanting to do this:
What? You don't think spending two hours riding bikes over 20 miles sounds like fun? Pshaw. It's fun. (When I can't walk tomorrow, I may have to rethink that.)
Before we headed to Ohiopyle, we made sure to pick up some things we learned were essential the last time we were there. Water shoes for all were tossed into a bag, along with a picnic lunch and a few bottles of water. We planned to picnic, go mountain biking, and then jump in the river to cool off.
All went exactly as planned. The bike ride was full of breath-taking sights and by the time we reached the water, we were all ready to cool off.
Alexis had a blast playing in the water.
A BLAST.
Right up until the chubby little face went from all smiles and giggles to frown city.
Somehow the kid lost a shoe . . . one of the light purple water shoes that she had picked out just the night before. It was her very first time wearing them, and apparently also her last. It had fallen off of her foot and got caught in the current that was headed straight for the very large waterfall.
As a misery-filled Alexis whined and complained and cried for us to find her shoe, we tried to show her that it just wasn't retrievable.
I mean, maybe it's in there somewhere, but I certainly wasn't about to just jump in the raging rapids and try to find it.
Alexis searched and searched and searched, despite our explanations that it was gone and that we could go buy a new pair.
Finally, we drug her away and headed back to Pittsburgh.
Along the way, we heard about that damn shoe at least 14,351,981 times. The shoe that she had known less than 24 hours was suddenly the most important shoe of all time. It was her Best Friend, her glass slipper, and her most prized possession all at once. In fact, when I asked her if she had fun at Ohiopyle, she replied, "I miss my shoe."
SHE. IS. SUCH. A. GIRL.
We stopped at Toys 'R Us to buy a replacement, knowing full well that there had been several light purple water shoes in her size just one night earlier.
Of course they were all gone.
I'm going to be hearing about that stupid shoe for the rest of my life, aren't I?