Kayaking

After months of anticipation, hellish heat keeping us hiding in the air conditioned house, the freakish temperature finally cooled down enough for us to head out this weekend and go kayaking for the first time as a whole fam.

It was a blast.

We started off a little rocky when at first the folks in charge of boat rentals told us that only two per boat and three was not allowed. However, their sign stated three was ok, and I had been around in June to double check their policy and was told three was ok. After a bit of them bumbling around, they grudgingly agreed to the two smaller kids in one kayak with a parent. I admit, I was going to lose my cool if they refused. This is the only kayak rental place in the area and we have been desperate to get out there. And with the kids being so small, they fit perfectly.

J went with Ashe and Soren, while Xavier and I took the other kayak. Since Xavier wasn't paddling I gave him the responsibility of taking photos of anything that looked cool. This blog is a debut of Xavier's leet photography skill. For an amateur, I thought he did a kick ass job. Here are my favorite four:

I love love love this photo that Xavier captured of a Heron. He was fishing in a bend, standing as still as can be. We very slowly made our way to him, and I was surprised he didn't take off, despite our attempts to keep three rowdy kids quiet. But the Heron ignored us and I was able to get our kayak within five feet of the bird so Xavier could grab a few fantastic photos. We watched as he would dive his head down in a burst, to catch up small fish.

In the upper right hand corner you can see a baby turtle sunning itself on a branch. Xavier and I came up behind him and snapped this photo mere moments before the turtle splashed into the water.

This was the elusive picnic bench, usually seen only in public parks on dry land. We captured this one lounging in the shallow water in the middle of the woods. Who knew picnic tables loved the water?

This was a good size turtle sunning itself on a log. We were able to get right up to it before it got annoyed and slid into the water.

We spent about an hour going around the perimeter of the lake, catching sight of dozens of turtles, a bunch of water fowl, and even saw a few fish jumping. The kids decided that kayaking was waaaay better than canoing. They loved that you could go faster, and that mom and dad enjoyed racing, bumping into each other, and generally acting like big kids. If the weather holds, we'll try and go again next weekend.