Oh, how I love thee, my very own paddle.
I LOVE this picture. We are all SO ready to get out there!
They look so happy. They both did such a great job.
And we're off.
What a fabulous event. Huge THANK YOU to Bev for planning this event. We loved it. Bev, if you need help next year, you can count on me. Fingers crossed this event will happen next year :)
There were 60 of us, 17 FCC families. We had no idea what we were in for. I have to admit I was surprised the boats weren't anything like we've seen before, thought they'd have heads and tails as in China and at the races we've seen. We quickly got over that and just got into the day. The instructors were awesome. Great with the kids and kept the whole thing fun. I haven't been in the Gorge for a very long time, I was there as a teen and it was quite polluted. Now it's just beautiful, serene, clean, tons of folks paddling in kayaks and canoes. The park we went to was great, lots of walking trails and just really truly beautiful. I already can't wait to go back. We got to paddle around a rock with a mama seal nursing her cub! Jia was beside herself and talked and talked through it all with all of us shushing her. Just can't contain that kind of excitement.
Jia thought we were going fishing but the moment someone handed her a paddle she was ready to paddle! Twice her size and half her weight but darned if she didn't paddle the entire time we did! I had visions of capsizing with 20 people, with Jia wanting to stand and move around, of Jia falling over board, of Jia hitting us with her paddle, of me having to beg everyone to take Jia and I back to shore. I'm happy to report none of that happened. She totally knew what was going on, stayed attentive and did as we were told all along the way. She was even tapping her paddle on the side in a rythm with us.
Lili and Willow got to sit up front together and they set the pace for the whole boat. They did a wonderful job.
Fei was behind me so I didn't see too much of her but she was smiles when I did glance back.
At the end of our lesson and paddle, our groups three boats lined up and had a race. Our boat the Golden Dragon won! How fun.
It was a full day, picnic lunch, paddle, snack and visit, play at Shannon and Ken's, dinner out and another group play at a park. Jia was wiped and slept as soon as we got in the van.
