Lithia Springs

There is an awesome outdoor preschool/homeschooling group that meets throughout the Tampa Bay Area and we’ve been trying to join, but it’s sometimes during X’s naptime and sometimes 30-60min away. It worked out that E was off work on a day when the group met at Lithia Springs. E took X to Highland Rec Center for their indoor playplace per X’s request and they had a blast while M and I drove the hour to Lithia Springs to learn about the life cycle of frogs and explore the creek. Yes there can be alligators and snakes in the creek. Floridians will warn you that if there’s water, there’s gators. We were also told that it was most likely too cold for the gators or snakes to be swimming around. So in we splashed! I was paranoid the entire time and later went down a rabbit hole about how to evade water moccasins. Turns out gators and snakes are apparently scared of humans and will try to avoid if possible. Most people get bitten when they step directly on a snake. Does that make you feel better? Ya me either really, but I’m trying to be adventurous and not freak out about wild life. I made sure to snap a picture of my feet to prove to myself that yes I got into the water. We were cautious of course, but we made sure to have tons of fun. M met plenty of new buddies and they rallied together to try to build a damn across the creek and block the water. It was so much fun to watch them play in an open ended way for hours. We will definitely be back and hopefully the water stays cold through March because predatory reptiles really aren’t my thing. The creek here is fed by a spring and also has a swimming hole/spring that’s fenced in. We’ll have to head back on the hottest day and try it out next time, maybe bring X and E along.