Kayaking

We took the kids kayaking on Saturday morning - the 25th. We also took Teddy (our dog). So, there were 6 of us. Since Conor and Teddy are not able to row, we got 2 kayaks that were both 2-seaters. As I have never been in a kayak, only canoes, I did not know what to expect. When we were getting our oars, Jeff was going to be the only rowing person in his boat, so he got the double oar. When I went to get the same one, he told me that I should just get a single one since there were going to be two people rowing in our boat. Wrong. But it was a lot of fun. It was a girls/boys split at first, with Allie, Ceara, and me in one Kayak; Jeff, Conor, and Teddy in the other.

Teddy - Mr. I'm-Scared-of-Any-Type-of-Water (including rain) did very well as long as we weren't too far away from him. Whichever kayak he was in, if the other one got too far in front, or too far behind, he would start whining. And he adores Ceara. Allie and I were the rowers in our boat at the beginning, and Ceara sat in the middle of the boat. The boys took off before we did, and when we took off, Teddy jumped out of their boat and started swimming to us. As soon as he hit the water, he started freaking out, trying to get into the nearest boat (which wasn't ours) causing the woman in the kayak to freak out a little. We were finally able to get him back in the boat and we were off. We went very slowly at first, with Allie and Conor starting the splashing wars, and stopping often to swim.

After the first stop, the kids all wanted to be in one kayak with the dog, so that left Jeff and I in one. The kids had the two single oars, and so that left me without an oar to row with. So, I got to sit back and relax and let Jeff do all the work for a bit.

At the second stop, we switched back. But Teddy wanted in our boat, so we had an extra. We switched around often, at one point the girls chose to swim down the river instead of riding in the boat.

Towards the end of the trip, it was Allie, Teddy and me in one kayak; Jeff, Ceara, and Conor in the other, and we came up on several splits where we had to choose which direction to go. Since Allie and I were always in the lead.. and whichever path we chose, Jeff chose the other. Teddy had a fit.

I have some very bad scratches on my legs where he was jumping around trying to see them. lol

On one of the last shallow parts, Jeff and Ceara were trying to glide the boat through by riding on the ends of the kayak - not really in it. And the laughter brought me to tears when Jeff fell off the back of the boat. :) I was laughing so hard tears were forming.

When we would get into shallow water and get stuck on rocks, the girls were the ones who usually got out and got us un-stuck, so I joked that the only reason we brought them was so they could pull us along in the shallow water.

So, when we finally got done and back to the truck, water was still dripping from my shorts. Not wanting to get the seat soaking wet, I took my shorts off and wrung as much water as I could from them and then just got into the truck thinking I'd let them dry a bit. Hey.. it's not much different from me just having a swim suit on. :P

I held my shorts out the window to let the wind blow them and Jeff said, "What are you doing to do if you drop them?"

"Well, you'll either turn around and go back to get them, or we will be going home before we go to the Open House."

We were going to my cousin's open house. She and her husband had built a house and they were having a party for everyone to come and see it. We didn't have time to go home to change our clothes, so we were all looking like drowned rats when we got there.

"Nope. You'll just have to explain why you aren't wearing any pants when we get there." He added an evil laugh after he said this.

So, we drove to her new house and happen to pass the road she lives on. Jeff turned around and I started putting my shorts back on and sped up a bit.. trying to get to the house before I was dressed! How rude.

We looked like a bunch of river rats getting out of the truck, but we were dry for the most part. We got to tour her beautiful house, eat some of the ton of food she had, and hang out with some family and friends for a while.

Conor felt that all the cookies there were for him, and he tried to take about 10 of them at once. Of course he didn't get to eat but one or two.. I saw one, but knowing him, he snuck another one.

Conor was wore out from the long day, so he was ready to head home. He fell asleep in the truck on our way home, and finished a nap when we arrived home. I took a shower and joined him for the nap.

It was a fun day and there was a lot of laughter - mostly at Jeff, but.. hey. He's a good subject to laugh at. :)