The week prior Claire and I traveled with Ryan to Madison where he was working. It was nice to hang with Gm and Gpa for a few nights. We even got to visit GGma Anderson (who sent up more diapers the following weekend to the cabin!).
A little sandbox time with Gma Ellen.
We learned how to make mudpies...
and destroy sand castles!
Claire even posed for a couple senior photos.
Gma Ellen and Claire got crazy and rolled down the hill...
together!
No rest for the weary.
After Madison we made our way to Milwaukee to see Uncle Max an Moe's new house. The Koepkes kindly hosted us. My favorite part of Milwaukee (besides Max's new house) was our ice cream evening watching the thunderstorm from Koepke's porch.
Stay tuned for the highlight reel for a glimpse of Claire's first kiss...
From Milwaukee we made our way North to the cabin to meet the Thorkelsons. We spent the mornings drinking coffee, reading and chatting on the porch.
Henry entertained Gma Ellen.
I'm glad Ally enjoyed herself :)
Hmmm....
Oh yeah, I forgot about the dane party!
This is nice, isn't this nice? Gpa Mark'a happy place.
Funny, it seems to also be Claire's happy place.
Ah, a moment to relax :)
An old favorite comes alive again, though I think she needs a bit of help.
Claire you can't peak! (That would be Henry's helping hand.)
There we go...Where's Claire?
There she is!
Now, unfortunately we only have pictures to go along with the end of the next story. Gma Ellen and Gpa Mark graciously offered to watch the kiddos so we could take Eric and Ally kayaking down the Crystal River. Ally asked for a few pointers as she hadn't had much experience kayaking. Not to worry I told her, the river pretty much takes you, you don't have to do much work...famous last words!
This story is entitled - "Eric the Hero".
To put it mildly, our kayak trip was insane. It started when we got into the river and didn't have a church key to open our beer (seriously, how many times do we do that!?!). Eric sacrificed his knuckles (hero part #1) and Ryan sacrificed one beer to a rock, but eventually got them open and were about to set off.
As we pulled our kayaks into the river we found ourselves in the middle of a 21-person Ding's Dock crew. For those of you who don't know, you can rent "boats" from Ding's Dock and "canoe" down the river. These "boats" are rectangles of fiberglass with fiberglass barnacles plastered to the bottom where the "boat" ran aground and cracked. People in said "boats" use "paddles"- or orange plastic children's oars - to "steer" their boats. Behind this crew was an all-too-happy group of 20-something gentlemen clad in speedos. Not to worry though, to make sure they didn't show anything inappropriate they covered their speedos in highlighter-orange mesh "underwear". Classy.
Back to the story. So, before we pull our kayaks into the river, a "canoe" gets stuck on a rock and partially fills with water. Eric hops over and helps get these experienced river-adventurers on their way (hero part #2).
Ok, then we finally got started on our trip. About a minute in (not so much time for Ally to get the hang of steering) we went through rapids (and the river is pretty high, so they were more thrilling than usual). But we all made it through, yeah! Somewhere later down the river we find out that Eric had tipped his kayak trying to save his beer - gold star for the effort. Eh, might as well give him a hero part #3 for that.
Further down the river I saw Ryan pulled over but figured he was just hanging back, so I kept on going by. Then I saw a Ding's Dock boat submerged in the next rapids, so I quickly steered to the side and grabbed a branch - as I often do - to stop myself. Only problem was the branch did't quite stop me. It kept moving, consequently so did my kayak, right under the branch. Needless to say the kayak and I did not fit under the branch so - for the first time - I tipped the kayak (and my beer and green tea) into the river.
Everything happens for a reason though. Shortly after I got my kayak right-side up and empty of water we saw another Ding's Dock boat go down the rapids (where the first was stuck) and flip over. The teenage girl actually got stuck in and undercurrent and her friend couldn't get her up. Eric ran (literally ran) across the river and pulled the girl up (hero part #4). We spent the next 10 minutes getting them situated and then headed on our way.
We did make it to the end, all in one piece. You'd think that's where the story ends, but you'd be wrong. As we pulled our kayaks out of the dark clouds came rolling in. Who knew it was supposed to rain? We got everything tied down and made the trip back to the cabin. We knew rain was coming but figured the guys had enough time to paddle the kayaks (paddling one while towing a second) from the boat landing to our shore. Wrong again.
About 2 minutes after they got in the rain came - and this was no frirendly, sprinkling rain. Dumping, torrential rain, with thunder and lightening; not weather where you should find yourself in the middle of a lake. Ally and I drove back to the cabin and then watched from the window. I thought it odd that I only saw one kayak going across the bay...where was the 2nd kayak that was supposed to be attached? And where was the 2nd guy for that matter? Eric was lost at sea (or bay) - well it's not actually that big of a bay, so he wasn't really lost. His 2nd kayak detached itself early on and he tried to push the two back. This wasn't working so well and in an effort to grab his loose kayak he flipped his kayak - again, and lost his hat.
Gpa Mark and Ryan to the rescue. They jumped in the pontoon and gathered up Eric and the kayaks. When they all finally made it inside they were welcomed with warm kisses and warmer showers (or was it the other way around?).
Eric's hat!
Though it looks pretty good on Gma Ellen, maybe we'll get her one.
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