Good Times

The Creek, the Crawdad, and Apparently, the Competition

43 Comments 01 July 2013

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The kids are getting bigger and more independent, as 4-1/2 year olds are prone to do, which is great for a whole lotta reasons.  But there is one reason in particular about the kids getting bigger that excites me most of all – the opportunity for adventure!!  Babies are cute and cuddly and all of that fluffy stuff which is why we love them so much, of course.  Toddlers are funny and fun and challenging in their own special way.  I love all of the different phases of early childhood for various reasons.  But I can’t wait until the kids get old enough to really do things – toss the ball in the yard, climb a tree, row a kayak, swing on a rope swing and let go over a crisp, cool lake on a hot summer day – those are the adventures I am ready to discover with my kids!  Eliot has been in adventure mode with me for awhile, but the little ones are just now beginning to touch their toes into those unknown waters…and I am ready!!

So we found ourselves on a little adventure – just me and Casey, Jack, Brooklyn, and Ryan.  Eliot, Britton, and Lila are spending the week at the grandparents’ places so it was just the 5 of us…an almost normal-sized family for once.  Summer is in full swing here in Texas with upper 90 degree highs the standard for the day and that means that you must find water if you are to be outside for any length of time.  And that is just what we did – headed off to the creek for some fun and, of course, adventure!

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Our chosen destination was Bull Creek and it is awesome!  It’s about 10 miles away from downtown and the water is always cool.  There are huge areas where the water is ankle deep and there are other spots where it is over your head, but it is always clear as can be.  The creek runs through some limestone cliffs and cedar-choked hill country and is one of the most picturesque spots in all of Austin.  Oh, and dogs are allowed so we took Lilly along with us.  The kids had a blast swimming, hiking, and spotting sunfish and other creatures along the creek bed.  One creature in particular really got our attention though – crawdads!

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Have you ever heard of a crawdad?  You might know them as crawfish or crayfish – they look exactly like lobsters, but they are little, about the length of a credit card or maybe a pen.  You can find them in the creeks and rivers around Texas and other southern states, usually hiding in the mud or under a rock.  I remember spending a good bit of time in my youth combing the creeks around our house for those little mud bugs…good times for a little boy on the loose!

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Back to the story!  Like I said, Bull Creek is crystal clear and we’re walking along when all of a sudden, Jack yells out, “Look!  A lobster!”  I got there first, just in time to see the “lobster” right before it scuttled under a rock and out of view.  It was a crawdad, for sure, but I couldn’t get him to come out of his hiding place for everyone else to see.  So I gave the kids a little lesson about what Jack saw – a crawdad, not a lobster, but it looks just like a lobster and they live in the creek so be on the lookout for more – and off we went again.  So we’re on the move once more, everyone keeping their eye out for crawdads when I see one and this time it’s out in the open, walking along the floor of the creek.  So I called everyone over, keeping Lilly under control by my side so she wouldn’t scare off our little friend.  “Look everyone – it’s another crawdad, just like what Jack saw!”

And that’s when something happened, or rather, when something was said.  And I knew in that moment that Jack and I had officially entered another phase of our relationship……………..

“The one I found was BIGGER than the one you found, Daddy!,” Jack said proudly.

Huh.  Oh, really, Jack?  You measured the crawdads, did you?  You, my little Rainman wannabe, knew in an instant of seeing two different crawdads from 15 feet away that the crawdad you saw was bigger than the one I saw and, even if this were the case, you believe this is something that is worth pointing out to the entire group there assembled?  So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?  Didn’t realize we were competing or that we were on that level now, but I guess I was wrong.  Ok, yours was bigger…I’ll let you have this one, it’s cool…….noooooo problem……

Alright, I’m a big boy, too and two can play at this game.  I’m in, I’m ready………and I can’t wait!!  Let the games begin!

I love you, Jack-Jack, and I am excited about all of the adventures and, of course, competitions (friendly, loving, teaching, learning, growing, big, and small) that are in store for us!!

God Bless,

Ethan

Your Comments

43 Comments so far

  1. ❤❤❤❤ says:

    I get so excited when you post it’s not even funny!=)

    God Bless!❤

  2. Camille says:

    Hi Ethan! Thanks so much for the update! Haha you gotta love Jack-Jack! God Bless!

  3. Donna says:

    Your children are so beautiful. You are truely blessed by the Lord. I wish you were still on TV so we could have a small glimpse of the wonderful life with quints.
    As always you are in our prayers.

  4. Khairunnisa says:

    I agree with Donna that your children are beautiful. Thanks for the update.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Love it

  6. ❤❤❤❤ says:

    Hey Ethan!:-) It would be so awesome if you guys did a Q&A video with one of the kids or all of them and upload it to your YouTube channel, maybe you could ask your followers to submit questions and then you could choose a few, you know like basic questions, nothing that would make them uncomfortable…Just a thought, hope you guys are having a wonderful summer!!

    Blessings!❤

  7. Jackie B. says:

    God bless y’all! Oh Jack…..

  8. Laura says:

    Hope you guys are having a wonderful summer ;)

  9. Leah :) says:

    I saw on Facebook hy took the Quints to take pictures in the Bluebonnets again, and of course I loved them! Y’all have the most GORGEOUS kiddos!!:-) Any chance you’ll be sharing more of those with us?❤

    Have a blessed summer!

    Hugs & Kisses,

    ❤Leah Faith❤

  10. Leah :) says:

    **you

  11. Alynna K. says:

    Jack is adorable! Thank you very much for another fantastic post!! I don’t want to bother you but I’ve been curious for the past few months if Eliot took pictures in the bluebonnets with the Quintuplets? Silly I know, just thought i’d ask…:)

    Blessings,

    Alynna Kooper

  12. Jenna K says:

    Hi! Your kids are all beautiful! They really are growing up fast! Thanks for posting about your wonderful family!

  13. says:

    Hey Ethan, is QBS going to be added to Netflix? Because the other day I saw they had the show discription posted but when I went to add it to my que it said availability was “unknown” …:/ Any answer would be incredibly apriceated!!❤

    Thanks for your time,

    Love, @quints_by_surprise_super_fans {Instagram} =)

  14. JonesLife says:

    We don’t know how it works with Netflix. They’ve had our show in their listings for quite awhile now, but it has never been available. I don’t know if the show has to get a certain number of “adds” on Netflix before they’ll offer it or if TLC has to produce the dvds first…wish we knew how all of this works.

  15. says:

    Oh ok got it! Well hopefully someday soon it’ll be avalible:-)

    Thanks so much for your time!❤

  16. Brooke says:

    Hello there, I stumbled accross your blog a few days ago and let me just say, it’s like a book you can’t put down!! I literally read the whole thing in a little over a day, I especially enjoyed reading about the pregnancy…Y’all have a amazing story to tell! But here comes the question::My best friend and her husband just found out their exspecting twin girls this fall and they CANT choose a name let alone 2 so I was wondering if y’all could remember any names you had chosen but didn’t end up using, because you two are obviously gifted in the baby-naming department!! Even one name would be WONDERFUL!!❤ Have a blessed day!

    -Brooke

  17. JonesLife says:

    Thanks so much – glad you liked the show, found the blog, and loved it all! And thanks for your kind words! I think the only names we had left on our list when we were done were Weston (boy) and Layne (girl) – we used all of the rest of them up. Good luck to your friends and God bless!

  18. Brooke says:

    Wow! Thank you for answering so quickly!!! “Layne” is ADORABLE! It totally sounds like something my friend would LOVE!!❤❤ I’ll let you know what they end up choosing:-)

    love the extremely greatful,

    Brooke❤

  19. Collette says:

    Hi guys. Miss your show and watching your adorable family. So glad I found that you have this blog so that we could get updated. We are in Cibolo, so we are going to check out Bull Creek :) Love and continued blessings to you.

  20. Carlin Matthews says:

    Hello Mr.Jones, I’m “the friend” who’s exspecting twin girls this fall, and I want to thank you for taking time out of your obviously busy schedule to help us on our name hunting adventure!!! Brooke totally got me hooked on your blog, I’m sure we’re going to get a SUPER MINI sampling of y’all’s crazy life once the twins come!{my DVR is set for Quintuplets by surprise on Monday!} I can’t imagine carrying 5, 2 is hard enough!! Casey is a HUGE inspiration for me!! So I’ll stop wasting your time and get to my point, we have our names belive it or not in one day we came up with them:: McKenna Faith & LAYNE Elizabeth!

    God Bless!❤

  21. Mandy says:

    Ethan,
    Is there any possibility you guys will do another season? Or even an update episode? I so miss laughing and crying with your beautiful family.

  22. Katie says:

    Hey there! I just wanted to say that I just found your show on TLC and I love it!! You have the cutest kids!! I am not married nor have kids of my own but I absolutely love the way that after 6 kids you still adore your wife! I think that is so special and I long for a husband to do the same with me someday! I also love the way you guys handle everything that goes on in your lives! I come from a broke family and everything has always been so complicated but even though you also have a very hectic family, you and Casey remain so clam! I hope to be as good of a parent as you are some day! Thank you for the wonderful example you set! I enjoy most the Christ-like way you run your family! I am so encouraged by that! There aren’t many who still run their family’s that way! Thanks again!
    God Bless
    Katie
    P.S. I would absolutely love if TLC brought your show back!!

  23. Lauren says:

    What this world needs is more shows like yours and duck dynasty and less kardashians and jersey shore. God bless your beautiful family!

  24. Lynnette Marks says:

    Ahhh Bull Creek… Love that place and it sure looks like Jack loved it too!! Your pictures always brighten my day, your kiddos seem to be growing u

  25. JonesLife says:

    I hope so, but as of right now TLC has not shown any interest in future shows. We would love to do more, but the decision is not in our hands.

  26. Lynnette Marks says:

    Oh how strange it didn’t post my whole comment! The part it clipped off said: “up so fast!! Thank you so much for sharing y’alls life with us!” don’t know how that happend!:(

    Anyway God BLESS!<3

  27. Cathy says:

    Hello Casey & Ethan, my what a lovely family you have! Now let me start out by saying I am not very technology educated, but my grandkids convinced me to open a Instagram and to make them happy I did and I found some fan accounts devoted to your family, one inperticular stood out to me. It was called Quints by surprise super fan or fans i cant quite remember. But the girl who runs it just blew me away with her knowlage! She answered a few questions about the show so well I thought she was you two and I guess it showed because she politely lead me to your personal instagram and made sure I knew she wasn’t you two, lead me to the blog, and even let me know that reruns of quints by surprise were currently airing ! I just thought y’all should know you have some really sweet fans out there. I look forward to keeping up with this blog:)

  28. =) says:

    How fun!!! Jack is adorable!

  29. =) says:

    I don’t want to be any trouble to you, so if you hate “question askers” then please stop reading this and just discard❤But if you wouldn’t mind I would be VERY appreciative!=) I was wondering if theirs any place we can watch the very 1st special you guys did, I’ve only seen it once when it first aired and then my DVR erased immediately. But I LOVED it and I would love to see it again:)

    Thank you SO much for your time,

    Have a wonderful summer! oxoxoxo

  30. Carol says:

    I love reading about the Fab Five and their big sister. I really miss you all and think of you often. The kids are growing so fast – each becoming a unique individual who knows what love is all about.
    Ethan, you have such a talent with words. Hopefully, some publishing company will recognize your skill and sign you up for a book. I am sure it would be a best seller.
    Bull Creek was one of my families favorite places to explore too. We always brought out of town guests to see that special little spot of Austin.
    Enjoy the rest of the summer and say “hi” to Casey and the crew from me.
    Blessings and hugs,
    Carol

  31. JonesLife says:

    I wish I knew where you could watch it, but I don’t. Keep your eye on TLC and Discovery Health because they play reruns quite a bit. I’ve heard that you can find the episodes on YouTube, but we haven’t checked that out for ourselves. Thanks so much for watching!

  32. JonesLife says:

    We miss you, Carol! Lots of love from the Jones family!! :)

  33. =) says:

    YouTube unfortunately didnt have it, but I’ll keep an eye out for it!!:-) Thanks so much!!!❤

  34. Matthew says:

    I love you guys! I hope you make another season! How are the Fab Fives doing?

  35. Matthew says:

    Also, please keep me and the other fans posted!

  36. Suzette says:

    Hello Casey & Ethan! My your blog has certainly changed since the last time I’ve visited it, It’s lovely! I came on here in search of a picture of your precious Elliott sitting in a hatbox I believe it was so I can try to do something like it with my 4-year-old granddaughter and I wanted to make sure I remembered it correctly. I just thought before I looked for it I’d let you know I pray for your family every day and I have since I began reading your blog before your Quintuplets were born. Im going to try to borrow my daughters computer more often so I can keep up with the Joneses! PS that lovely picture in those lovely flowers brightened my week, I sure hope you have more of those in-store.

    May God Bless Your precious family,
    Suzette Rodgers

  37. JonesLife says:

    Thanks so much for reminding me of that picture! I love it! I had to do some digging, but found it and will have it posted to our Facebook page soon. I hope your picture turns out great!

  38. Hannah says:

    We LOVE Bull Creek too!!:-) I remember reading an article about y’all when your wife was pregnant and then recently a friend of mine “pinned” a link to your blog on Pinterest and it lead me to your wonderful blog! I found y’alls FB page and couldn’t help but scroll through your beautiful pictures and I saw a shot of your little girls(stunning by the way!❤❤❤❤) in a ballet studio…May I ask where is it? We’re sort of new to the area and would love to get our 3 monkeys in some activities! Anything classes your kiddos enjoy that you could recommend?

    Thank You for your time!
    Much love and Blessings❤,
    Hannah James

  39. Khairunnisa says:

    Can I ask a question? What does Eliot like listening to?

  40. Chantal says:

    Hi! Jones family!!! I just read on wikipedia that you guys used a sperm donor to get pregnant,.. I’ve always been a fan of your show and always said at almost every episode I watched that Eliot and Ryan are the spitting image of their Dad Ethan …is that true???

  41. Carly says:

    Hey Ethan! Just finished watching the Halloween episode of Quints By Surprise and I couldn’t help but wonder what the Quints & Eliott are planning on being this Halloween? I know it’s early…But I figured I may aswell ask;) I know whatever it is they’ll look adorable❤

    Blessings & Prayers,
    Carly David

  42. meagen says:

    Oh, this is neat. I never knew there was a blog. My son is 16 months and the reruns come on about the time he’s waking up from nap, and I’m starting to prepare lunch.He thinks seeing all the babies on tv is neat, so it’s basically apart of our routine now. It is so inspirational to see all of the things Casey comes up with for the kids. Its so cool to see how all of the children have changed after seeing them as 2 year olds on tv. I can’t wait to see how my little man changes over the next couple of years.


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