tippy

This weekend was our annual canoe trip with Mike's friends.  If we counted right, this was my 9th time going and Mike's 14th.  And guess what, we tipped for the FIRST time!  (Note: Mike had tipped over in the past before teaming up with me...)  So, the Pine River is a more challenging river to canoe and it is also a very, very cold river - when standing in the river it doesn't take long for your feet to turn to ice cubes.  It was a gorgeous day yesterday and we were canoeing with about 7 or 8 other couples.  At one of our stops I decided a candy cane sounded good (yes, a candy cane in August...it was chocolate flavored...).  So then we're just going down the river, I'm enjoying my candy cane, and one of our friends decided she wanted one.  Mike got one out for her, no problem, then came trying to pass off the candy cane to her - that didn't go so well.  We ended up going into some thick trees at the edge of the river.  I huddled down just to avoid getting knocked over or cut in the face and next thing I knew we were tipping over and I was submerged in ice cold water.  (Thankfully it was hot out, so after the initial shock wore off it felt great.)  Me, being such a water person (yeah, right), had just a split second of panic when I was under water thinking that I was going to get stuck under the canoe or something, but not to worry, I popped right out of the water, regained my senses and started grabbing at our stuff that was floating down the river.  The only thing of importance I had with me was my phone (just couldn't bear to be out of touch for that long in case one of my babies needed me...) and it was in two ziplocs so it was just fine.  I even managed to grab both my flip-flops that were starting to float away, and never let go of my paddle through the whole thing so we didn't lose any of that stuff either.  None of our friends were able to stop right there and help us, but there was a nice gentleman already stopped alongside the river just ahead that helped us empty the water from our canoe and get us back on the river again.

We had a very nice time away.  Mike and I don't get to talk a whole lot (thanks to both kids and busy schedule), so we especially enjoyed being by ourselves on the drive (over two hours) - we had alot of catching up to do!  :)  We also had lots of fun with his friends who we don't get to see very much.  They're the type of friends where we can go a whole year without seeing them (usually now we only see them on the canoe trip) and we can just pick right back up with them without a problem.

We dropped Caleb and Logan off at Grandma & Grandpa VanBeek's Friday night.  That sure made packing and getting out the door the next morning alot let stressful!!  Saturday morning first thing we dropped Levi off at Eric & Lea Anne's.  I was kinda dreading leaving him (our first overnight separated!), but I managed to do it without crying or anything.  :)  They sent us photos and status updates yesterday and this morning so I could keep tabs on how he was doing, and that sure helped.  (Technology is really great sometimes!)  Today we got back in time to unload our stuff at home, and clean up the van a little bit (gotta take advantage of having all the car seats out...) before going to pick everyone up.

It was a much needed time away, and I'm so glad we were able to make it.  Last year, due to some circumstances, we weren't able to make it and it was the first ever that Mike missed (my first since joining the group).  Within a couple hours of being home I was feeling frazzled again, but such is life!  :)  Mike had to go into work to load a truck, and thankfully Logan was napping, but Caleb and Levi were keeping me hopping.  All is quiet at the moment - I'm soaking it up while it lasts!