Labor Day River Trip

Watching the Rain

It’s always so touch and go if we can make it to the River.  Something always seems to pop up.  A couple kids were sick and so Saturday morning the decision was made to go!   We are so blessed to have this family River House.  The kids never remember life without it!  We got down there Saturday by dinner after football and got up the next morning and headed for the beach.  It’s a sandy area right around the curve in the River.  We are quite the sight getting down there.  

The River is so low that we haven’t put the motorboat in for quite awhile.  We had Bon and Bubs in rubber boats, Dan, Ed, Mags & KC in one kayak and Annie and me in the other kayak.  The dog was going nuts.  She acted like she was going to jump out of our boat at one point and into Bonnie’s rubber boat. We finally made it to the beach and the kids had a blast.  They have wars in the boats and Bonnie calls this rocky area the Galapagos Islands and she walks all around as a tour guide. The dog decided she wanted everyone to stay together and chased Bonnie down stream on the bank barking her head off until Bon came back.  She kept jumping in boats and the kids would paddle her around.  KC kept bossing everyone, wanting the kids to get back on the beach.  It was hilarious.  Annie is amazing and the strongest 6 year old I have ever seen.  She got in that rubber boat and kicked herself all the way home! :) She even kayaked me the whole way one time!  (I did offer to paddle, I swear)

Nothing like rain on the tin roof! :)

We finally went back to the cabin and it was a big day for Bubba and Annie (daredevils of the fam!)  They both did the high rope swing for the first time (and scared me to death) and we all cheered.  After lunch, it started raining from that tropical storm.  Dan was exhausted from the football madness, (having practice almost every night.)  He conked out in our bed.  Eddie wanted up in the bunk bed and wanted me to come up with him.  I laid down with him and promptly went to sleep.  For the next hour or so, I have no clue what the 5 kids and the dog were doing.  I knew they weren’t outside running around the property or in the River because it was raining really hard but geez, what the heck kind of parenting is that??  I was so relieved when I wiped the drool off my face and all the kids and dogs were intact!  They were so cute.  They had set up a pet shop with all their stuffed animal and were buying them from each other.  We ended the day with a fabulous grill fest by Dan!   Wow, that could have been bad, very bad….   Oh yeah, another monumental thing that happened is Ed dressed himself for the first time "All by myself"....my baby!

Eddie loving him some of Dan's ribs!