First family float trip

Last week I told Matt: "Hey, we should take the kids floating!" He was skeptical (as he usually is of some of my ideas), but then he came around to - and got really excited about - the idea. We talked to the canoe rental place about taking an almost-4 and almost-2-year-old on the river, and they were like, "Yeah, sure! No problem!" We had planned to take one canoe for the four of us, but at the last minute we asked Matt's dad to go, so we ended up with two canoes.

This was a blessing, I am sure.

There was one scary moment toward the end when I was in the front of one canoe holding a sleeping Finn (both kids napped in the canoes!), while Dan was steering, and we hit some really rocky rapids that nearly tipped us over. Matt and I agreed last night as we were recapping the day that if the four of us had been in one canoe we surely would have tipped... and cried... and cursed... a lot.

But, it was a really fun day, and overall it was an easy float with the kiddos. We got in the water around 9:30 and were done by 12:45. A bit of a change from our usual "adult only" floats that start at 9 a.m. and end something like 10 hours later. :) Finn got a bit restless on some of the longer stretches in the canoe. He enjoyed the times we were stopped and swimming a lot more than the actual canoeing part. Lola helped paddle and enjoyed the canoeing part more than Finn did. He wanted to stand up, hang over the side and dangle his hands in the water. :) They were both baffled by the current. They're used to a still lake, so the moving water was a new experience for them.

We saw a lot of wildlife: birds, fish, crawdads, bugs, turtles and even a snake! It was incredibly peaceful. For those of you familiar with the North Fork River, we launched at Patrick Bridge and never saw another person or canoe until we got back down to Dawt. It was wonderful. I highly recommend going on a weekday after school starts (if you can). 

Outside the Dawt Mill General Store:

Althea Spring:

Finn throwing rocks, one of his favorite pastimes:

Lola and Papa Dan:

Finn: King of the World (or the canoe, in this case):

The water was pretty chilly, but it didn't bother the kiddos:

We switched out positions in the canoes several times.

This time it was the girls vs. the boys.

Lola liked racing the boys - we won, of course.

Boys canoe:

Riverside nap.

She didn't actually fall asleep here, but she did take a nap in the bottom of the canoe shortly after this!

Hard to see, but he is holding a tiny crawdad!

I am really bad about remembering to take a picture of all of us. I meant to get a family picture on the river, but as you can see, it didn't happen. I also didn't get myself in any of the pictures because I (of course) was holding the camera. :) Sigh. Maybe next year!

Matt and I used to float this river at least once a year... until we had kids. I think 2009 was our last float trip - Lola was born in 2010. Five years later, and we enjoyed this a whole lot. I hope to reinstate our annual float trip. Make that float trips: one with the kiddos and perhaps one without. :)