Since it was still on the floor of the garage, and since we had some friends celebrating their anniversary with some paddling, we scrounged up a bit of spare coin to hire a sitter and goto Canyon Lake.     50 min from driveway to water!

Brett and Tiffany’s sitter fell through at the last minute, but ours was cool with 4 kids, and a pretty respectable hourly rate for her efforts.   G got to play with Miranda (3.5) and Sydney (2), while our humble kayak morphed into a little flotilla.   Other than 2 tours in Hawaii, and a trip with some friends in Reno on Lake Tahoe…our first time paddling, where capsizing worries, motor boats, and smacking each other’s paddles had us on edge…I don’t think Beckie and I have ever paddled with anyone else.   Yet all of our speeds, stamina, shit-togetheredness, and je ne sais quo matched quite well. A fantastic time was had. A well-above average number of photos were taken for a yakking trip, which is still not saying much. We got no shots of the peaceful narrows under the first metal bridge.

lunch break

diving off rocks. Brett’s flip was much more impressive, but the camera was not ready

water was chilly, but too nice to forego

On the drive back, I described to Beckie every turn in the road, was amazed how quickly we got up the climb to the scenic vista pullout, and how similar pace to the roadie we went down the descent. The 13 mile stop-and-go slog back from AJ was much better in a car, though after a day of rumbling motorboat and shoulderless roads in our giant-ass truck I appreciated the roadie even more.

The kids were all alive and had a far better time together than apart, which made my still sun-warmed skin tingle that much more. G taught Miranda and Sydney how much fun it is to throw rocks into the pool. I have a chore this weekend that will be colder than the lake.