Row, Row, Row, Your Boat...

Yesterday, I went canoeing with some of the youth from our church. The Hethan spent the night with his cousin (after having had said cousin spend two nights with us) so that I could participate in this outing. Here are a few things I learned about myself and canoeing.

1. I cannot steer. Well, that's not entirely true. I can steer. I just can't steer well or quickly. Ok. I really can't steer at all. Yeah. Not really.
2. I do very well with grunt work. Paddling was a good thing for me. Tell me how to do it and I'll do it!
3. I don't react well to branches hitting me in the head. But then, I suppose I deserved it since I kept steering us into branches when I was "driving" the canoe--- and Maria got the brunt of the branches.
4. I like canoeing.

While we were on the river, we saw a number of turtles. I was tempted to pick one up and bring it home, but I knew, deep down, that it wouldn't be a good thing. When we stopped to rest at one point, we saw these cute liiiiiiitle froggies. They were the size of my thumbnail. I caught one and we all exclaimed over how cute it was for a while.

Our lunch spot was a place where the river had a deep spot--- and someone had tied a rope to a tree so that people could swing over the water and drop from the rope. Some of the youth were swinging and jumping, and of course, I couldn't resist. So I started wading across the river to the other side. Remember how I mentioned that it was a deeper spot in the river? Yeah. Within a few feet, the water was up to my chest and moving quickly. I was walking across with Lauren, one of the young ladies, when the current began to pull us downriver. Shallow adult that I am, I let go of Lauren and started swimming. I hollered at her to swim too--- she's an experienced water baby, so she knew what to do. We made it across to a shallower part and the water was as warm as bathtub water. Did I mention that the water was so cold in the deep part that my goosebumps had goosebumps? EEEK!

Anyhow, canoeing was fun. The girls had a fight with the boys with water bottle bombs. I got grouped in that fight because I was a canoe partner with one of the girls. Two of the girl canoes got tipped, but I am pleased to say that thanks to Maria's awesome steering, she and I kept ahead of the canoe that was causing the tipping. :)

And now, it's time to say good night. Because my arms are still sore from rowing, rowing, rowing. I fell asleep last night, feeling as though I were still in a boat. :) Night all.