The River Wild

Well, we had a little adventure today.  Or, at least Daddy did.  He and the guys you see above went kayaking down the Chattahoochee (where it gets hotter than a hoochie coochie).  It was a team building exercise of sorts, as you can see the group here is mostly the guys from KidPak, wanting to see just around the river bend (why do all our dreams extend, just beyond the river bend).  This was in fact Daddy's first venture out in a kayak, which is basically one of those small plastic boats that you row all by yourself down all sorts of rapids.  For some reason, I was under the impression that the river would move and we'd go straight down it, but being completely unfamiliar with kayaking, I was probably doing much more work than I needed to just to stay straight.  The end result is a very sore body tonight, and presumably for the next few days.  But it was fun, and there were times we were out there all alone along the river, and just enjoying a pathway that God created so long ago.  A few times we'd go ashore to a remote beach designed just for those on boats, and we'd do a little swimming, and in one case there was this large rope swing set up that launched you way out and deep.  Yes, we all did that a few times.  That thing was way up there, and it sent you plunging down into the water.  But it was fun, and it was challenging too - you really had to pay attention for rocks and rapids, especially towards the end there when we happened upon some rapids that actually had a classification.  I have no idea what that classification was, but we were all given instructions to go down sideways, and then straighten out in one particular direction.  Being completely an expert by this point, I ignored the first part of the instructions.  Actually, it just worked out that I didn't have to go sideways, because I had overshot the first part so much that when I went to turn and go down the bigger part of the rapids, I went straight down the flume and made it safely.  We didn't turn over once, although there were moments where the water threatened to knock us this way or that.  Our guide didn't have any trouble of course, and he was helpful here or there, and very encouraging as well.  It all went by rather... rapidly.

It was a fun time for us, and it all started actually a little later in the day than normal.  I think we began at about 3pm or so, which is why we were able to get a lot done at work leading up until that moment.  The tail end of things, however, kept us out pretty late.  We got home well past 10pm, this after eating together up there in Cornelia.

Madison and Mommy had their evening together while all this stuff was going by.  Madison had martial arts, where she's learning this two-step kick in the air.  Both feet fly up in the air, and she was anxious to try it on Daddy the next time she saw me.  They found black foam board, and there was much rejoicing there - that means we can paint a backdrop for the solar system and get that project done.

It was a great day all around, a hot one, but on the river that didn't matter too much given the cold water splashing all around us.  I doubt Madison or Mommy would come with us down the river if we were to do that again.  But there is a great place to go fishing up there, and an invitation to do that if we want to.  I think we'll take our guide up on that offer, and I think you'll be seeing pictures of that soon enough.  Madison is anxious to go fishing again, and in fact all of us are.  It's more relaxing anyway, but it's just very nice to get out and do things like that, or even kayaking, for those moments that you're out in nature, away from it all, enjoying all that God has created for us.