River Trip 2013

I missed out on the river trip. The night before we were to leave I had a bad reaction from a medication I started taking(Armour Thyroid). I was so sick. It was bad enough that I hardly had the strength to do even the dishes. I knew immediately that it would not be a smart idea for me to go. There haven't been many times in my life that I have cried as hard as I did the morning the family got up early and went on the river trip without me. The kids were sad and crying and Dae was left taking the helm on his own on our summer vacation. For some reason I blamed myself for not being there, even though I know it was out of my control. I wanted to be there with them having fun and helping Dae...I was literally heart broken for letting them down. I hate being the one staying behind. But, life does go on. Someday I will get over it. It turns out they had a blast, which I am so glad. When they came home I heard about adventures with cousins, I heard about how Brook and Ellie fell backwards off the raft into the water, and I heard Grandpa Greg cooked some killer dutch oven meals which everyone helped out with. I'm sure Jack had a blast as well being completely free to chase bunnies...I even missed him. Thank you so much Adam for these pictures!

 (Dae told me beforehand that he planned on going mountain man while he was there. Take a look at that beard!!)

Highlights of the trip from Dae's point of view...

Catching one big fish.

 The crystal clear water.

Throwing Jack in the river with his doggy life vest on.

Floating down the river while listening to Credence Clearwater Revival on the radio.

Deacon getting trapped in his sleeping bag in the middle of the night.

From the kids point of view...

Floating down the river while sitting on the edge of the raft with their feet trailing in the water.

Laughing and playing with cousins.

River Trip~ Desolation

Andi, Annie, Damon, Ashley, Adam, Greg. 

River trip from the past...

This river trip was 7 years ago in the summer of 2006. Kandus was almost 5, Lucy was about 19 months old. 

Before the trip I was so nervous about leaving the girls for 5 whole days. Not only because it was my first time leaving them, but because where we were going there would be no phone service, just like in the olden days. How did people cope without technology? I guess when it's what you are used to, you don't know any different. First off I should say, that it was very good for me to let go and after I finally got over the fact that I had no control over their safety and happiness out there in the middle of nowhere, I decided to have fun and it became a blast. So glad we went. I enjoyed the time alone with Dae, time that we needed. If you have never been river tripping, these are some things you should come to expect and just...well, let me just say that it is a good thing that I love camping and the great outdoors.

River tripping ins-and-outs...

 Keep everything you own in dry bags throughout the river portion of the day.

Poop buckets(Keep the river sights clean and sanitary!)

Everyone peeing in the river together at stopping points(Is that sanitary?)

"Bathing"(swimsuits and soap) in the river.

Set up and take down camp each new day.

Lots and lots of snacking.

Use frozen water bottles as your ice and your cold water all trip long.

Last but not least...

If you fall overboard during bigger rapids, make sure your feet are in front of you while going downriver(Don't be a backwards jockey).

(Dae trying to make a sail so we could pick up some speed through the slow parts)

One of the highlights of this trip that I will always remember, was sharing tents with Damon's siblings; talking, playing games, and laughing at bedtime just like we did when we were kids. I learned pretty quickly that Andi talks in her sleep, A LOT. On one occasion Damon even had to direct her back to her sleeping bag. There was one night when we were all sound asleep and I was awoken in pitch blackness by a very LOUD and LONG rumbling. My mind put together that the noise had to be a massive heard of wild horses heading right toward our tents. My heart jumped out of my chest as I sat straight up panicking and said in horror, "Oh my gosh! Damon! What is that?!"

He instantly said, "It's ok Ann, it's just a rockslide"...

Then I imagined giant boulders coming right towards us and I'm not sure, but I think that might be even worse!! "What?!", I said.

"But they are on the other side of the riverbed. It's ok Ann, that's why we camped on this side. We're safe", he promised. All I could think of was how glad I was that the guys thought of that, because I didn't.

After I took a minute to relax and adjust to the idea that I was in fact, NOT going to die at that moment, I heard Andi quietly say from the other side of the tent, "You ok Annie?"...

I was ok...and I laughed when I realized that I was actually questioning at that moment whether Andi was really awake or not. I think that was the only comment Andi made during all the nights in which she wasn't sleep talking. It was pretty funny. Thanks Mica for taking care of our girls while we were gone!