Family Reunion - Part 1

Most my immediate family, including all three of my brothers congregated at the Lake House this past week for a family reunion. I took a million pictures so I thought I'd break this into two posts, otherwise I would feel like I could never get it done.

Last Friday, we did a family Kayak Trip on a 4 mile stretch of a river close to the cabin. We took all the kids except the two youngest, Morgan and cousin Tessa. The other kids proved to be rock stars during the 6 1/2 hours we were on the water.

Here is where we launched all NINE boats and 13 family members.

The river was beautiful and changed constantly. We had several different type Kayaks and one Canoe, which is a monster for this type adventure.
Peyton was my little side kick in a double canoe for most the trip. She was such a great paddler.
Will had one of those "real" kayaks that are meant to roll easily and turn on a dime. I spent about 30 minutes in it which was about 29 minutes too long. It was SO hard to handle, but I got a killer ab work out! Will got pretty good with it, but still often had to bail water.

Logan (my youngest brother) had one too, and one time, he got submerged enough that when he bailed the water, he realized he had a FISH in it!! Hysterical!
Below is my oldest brother, Dakota, and his wife Charlotte, plus two of their kids.
We did some boat swapping........now I've got Deaven.
When Peyton was with me, we hit some pretty decent rapids and got down them fine, but at the bottom, the current pulled us right into a bunch of trees/bushes, which flipped our boat then pinned us, with our oars stuck behind my legs. It was pretty intense. I was desperately trying to hold onto Peyton as the boat flipped and desperately trying to salvage my camera at the same time. I could not believe how strong the current was. I literally couldn't do ANYTHING besides hold on to my child, camera and the oars. Luckily, Taylor and Bobbie came to our rescue.

As the day unfolded, pretty much everyone flipped their Kayaks at some point. Most the river was a float, but there were definitely some parts you had to pay attention too.
Some lovin' on the lake.........
Can you believe how pretty is was?
After lunch, Dakota and my Dad were scouting out the next section of river......
....which immediately presented some problems. Lots of downed trees and this one was cutting it a little close.
Really close!! But they made it.
So........another funny story. There was a Golder Retriever that lived right where we launched in the morning. He began to follow us down stream, despite our efforts to send him home. After a mile or so we started getting worried, but he just kept following. After about 2 miles, we realized we now HAD to take him with us, so we could drive him back home. Finally, we got him INTO one of the Kayaks, which made us worry a lot less. He made the whole trip with us and we returned him safely home. His owner said he's never left home before.
So much fun time on the water just chatting and enjoying the scenery.
Sometimes it was so mellow.......
Sometimes......not so much. This was my Dad and Deaven flipping in the Canoe!
Sometimes, we would hit a section that we could pass through and we would have to walk the kayaks a hundred yards or so to drop back in.
Peyton will her younger cousin Keira.
Will, once again, draining the water out of his Kayak.
The kids absolutely had the best time. They loved every minute of it, even our flips and crashes.
My Dad put a ton of work in to line up so many boats for us........thank you!!
After seeing the way the kids responded to this trip makes me realize they are ready to go white water rafting! Will and I love to and have been waiting until the right time to take them. Next spring!!
Lots more pictures to come from the Reunion, but this was the big "outing" of the week. It was a blast!

Below is a short video of Will coming down a section of the river. The rapids don't look like much here, but this was actually the same spot the FLIPPED the canoe with my Dad and Deaven.