Family Canoe Trip 2013

Yesterday was our annual Family Canoe Trip with the Rushing and Zuhlke families plus a few others. Many memories were made and lots of pictures and video were taken.  Will put together some of the footage to make this short video.


To begin with (and because it is a Saturday in August) it took us almost two hours to get signed up, paid, everyone where they were supposed to be and the rest of us transported to the drop off site. Here is a picture of Shannyn, Granny, Tina, and Hillary waiting…and waiting…and waiting for the bus.


After we finally made it to the drop-off site,  loaded up all of our coolers and stuff in the canoes, made sure everyone had a tube or place to be, and got on our way we stopped at the very first island just around the corner to eat lunch. By this time it was almost noon.




After loading up and moving again….we stopped again…

and again…


And then we ate again…

and again…

And then, when we made it to party island, we ate again. This time it was some of Will’s home grown watermelon.

We ate a lot!

And then there were some of us (Parker and Tina), who got stuck in the trees…

and stumps….

and bushes…


After the first hour, it started to rain….

and rain some more…

and some more…

and some more…

and some of us thought they could hide from it…

and then since our 20% chance turned into a 100% chance of all day showers (thank the Lord it wasn’t thundering and lightning) we had no choice but to make the most of it and have fun.

So, even in the rain we had a great time.  Thank you Aunt Shannyn for letting Luke sit in the kayak with you and play with the paddles. He LOVED it! And several times has told us that he is a good kayaker now.


Of course all of the kids wanted to play in the kayak.


Luke and Aunt Jess tubing.


Steve, Angela, Graci, and Granny floating.


Anna floating.


Carter navigating around the stumps.


Hannah and her friend, whose name I never caught but, Angela kept calling ‘pee girl.’


Of course, Will and Steve had to find a branch to jump out of. And then coerce all of the kids to do the same.  I will give them credit though, they check for stumps, sticks, debris, and how deep it is before they do any jumping. And everyone goes feet first.


This girl, however, jumped off of something and dislocated her finger. So, Mike put it back in place for her.  Always handy to have an EMT around.  Mike tried to talk the dad through how to do it, but the girl would rather have a stranger do it than her dad.


Scott and Hillary taking it easy.


Donna relaxing.


Somehow, Steve got booted from his float with Angela so that Luke could ride in his place. And yes, the entire group behind them belongs to our party as well. We were a big group coming down the river.


And here is our group shot that we take every year.