sailing… takes me away to…. hell, it takes me to hell….

ok… I should be writing about my 20th anniversary (29 days ago) and Father’s Day, they kinda slipped by…  what can I say – I’ve been busy (some’in  like 15 softball games, 13 baseball games, 7 basketball games, a few evenings-with-friends, created and planted a garden, disassembled our retaining wall…), then the damn puppy chewed my laptop charging cord, then I didn’t know what the model number is to order a new one, then Dan left the damn charger in our Amazon cart for days…

yah… basically Dan is jealous of my talent and trying to thwart it.

…and for that reason I’m passing right by the anniversary blog and the Father’s Day blog (I’m kidding… they’ll come, I promise… just not tonight).  Instead… tonight, we will revisit the 5 I’s’ day on the river….

I could go on and on about all the fun and frolic but I’d rather talk about MY day…

I think, for this entry, I’ll just use some random quotes…

Uhhhh… it took us over 1/2 hour to drop the truck off at Cooper’s and get back here – the life vests are still in the bag and the paddles aren’t assembled ~Me (Abby rebutted with, “I put on sunscreen”)

You can swim when we get to the end ~ Me (27 times)

Of course she had to swim around my kayak, her damn leash is completely wrapped around me ~ Dan (the jury is still out on whether Lucy jumped or fell into the river… either way – she was not impressed)

Use your left oar to push off, your left oar, left, your LEFT oar, LEFT, LEFT Calvin, YOUR LEFT OAR, LEFT, L.E.F.T., NOT.THAT.SIDE. your LEFT oar, CALVIN!YOUR!LEFT!OAR!, geezus boy LEEEFFFFFTTTTTT ~ me and Dan

Abby, you’re gonna hit the bank, steer away from it, turn, just paddle this way…. I’ll go get her ~Me

How ’bout me just ramming right into Abby to push her away from that bank ~Alex

So what? I cried… I was scared, I was speeding toward the land… ~Abby

Mom and Dad, I love you, thanks for a great childhood ~Abby and Cal every time we encountered “rapids”

Ok, momma ~Alex, when I asked if we could take a selfie (neither of us love to have our picture taken… this was HUGE)

Oh my god Calvin, you can stand up… just step out and pull your kayak off those rocks, why the hell are you panicking?  ~Me

Listen dude, there is fear that keeps you from doing stupid stuff and getting hurt and then there’s fear that keeps you from experiencing life… you have to find the balance ~Me (waxing philosophical after Cal’s near death experience in 2″ deep water)

[groan/grunt] mmmmmmmmohmmmmm ~Me, as I tried to maneuver my kayak from between 2 rocks (I was the hot dog, the rocks were the bun, sideways to the current) when I felt the nose of Cal’s kayak crush my elbow (the same elbow, the exact spot, that is currently experiencing a tendinitis-type issue)

Mom, I sure didn’t feel like kayaking today but I sure am having fun ~Abby

As much as I hate working Saturdays, it’s so nice to be out here on a Thursday; can you imagine how many people are on the river during the weekend? ~Me (finding the positive)

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break-a my stride, nobody’s gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on movin’ ~Alex, Cal and Abby while swimming upstream after I told them we had to head home

Mom, I sure hope I die from old age… or a gun shot ~Abby (she did think on that for a second and concede gun shots are probably painful)

4 hours, lots of yelling, some panic, tons of laughter and a relaxing afternoon floating 3 miles… it was a good day for the 5 I’s

Bonus quote (we drove up to Hollidaysburg for Alex’s doubleheader, it was rained out so we stopped for dinner at Prime Sirloin; Cal and Abby were discussing the self-serve soft ice cream machine and how they would attack it): Come on Abs… I’m about to show you a little trick I like to call ‘using a soup bowl’ ~Cal – my lefty, who was confused by “use your left oar”