Rolling on the River!?!

Yesterday I left home for the river

Without my phone.

A whole day without a phone?

I'm still feeling weak and wobbly but I will recover!

The problem is that I had only my DSLR camera

so I didn't get many photos...

But we headed to the river to meet Andy and crew...

And "Uncle" Cody

It was an early Labor Day picnic

and Andy's 33rd birthday.

We ended up with 6 other people

(again, no photos but the are probably thankful)

We sat and talked, watched the kids play and finally we decided it was time for a

Boat Ride!

Of course I grabbed my camera bag!

"Uncle" Cody had a new toy to share...

A new jet ski!

We all have great memories of our jet ski days...

That's Cody, paddling our jet ski.  Not sure why!

All willing and portable dogs got to ride...

Locklan decided he could take pictures with my DSLR...

Yesterday I had to delete 200+ photos that he took.

He wanted to photograph the 'castles' along the river...

And the bridges!

Family tradition is to cover your head when you go under a bridge,

a thing my father did with us when we were kids.

Locklan decided he wanted to swim.  Andy stopped the boat and took Locklan 

to the back of the boat.

He dipped one toe in and decided it was too cold!

He's such a hoot!

As we cruised the river, Cody kept 'hot dogging' us...

We kept asking Locklan if he wanted to ride...

He kept saying no.

Finally, he said he'd ride but only if his dad drove 

and only if he went "very super slowly slow"

And so it goes...

Very slow didn't last for long!

We always spent so much time at the river...

This is our 11th year there.

We barely used it this year.  

The weather was horrible.  When it wasn't raining, the river was so high and filled with debris.

We had damage to the docks.

Family things going on...

It's hard to believe that summer is officially over.

Tomorrow, the neighborhood kids will be back in school.

Locklan will start his second year of preschool...

But...

In 113 days, it will be Christmas!

Yay!

Insanity is Hereditary...

Yes!  I said that...

 

And I have said it for years!

 

What I always added to that statement is,

 

"You get it from your kids!"

 

Here's proof:

 

Yesterday (Sunday) morning, I woke up to see -14° on my thermometer.

 

That's FOURTEEN DEGREES BELOW ZERO, FARENHEIT!

 

I decided to stay in and work around the house.

 

A few hours later, I got these photos from Andy...

 

Yes!  That's the Kiski River!

 

 

And the boat, parked in what Locklan calls the tunnel...

 

 

And the crazy pair, looking pretty happy that they are freezing!

 

 

With temperatures like that and wind chill even lower...

 

You gotta be crazy!

 

See...Told you, insanity is hereditary...

You get it from your kids.

 

It is much warmer today.  Up to 32°, but it's snowing...

 

 

Last weekend!

Last weekend, all available family headed to the river...

 

Not all of us, Ashley had to work, Vicky and Jamie, Michael and Catherine were busy...

 

So it was just Andy and Locklan,

Tony and Mindy,

And of course, Mr. K and I.

 

Locklan tells us all the time that he wants to go to camp.

 

He loves it there!

 

First thing last week was Mindy washing her car...

 

 

 

Of course, Locklan had to help...

 

 

He couldn't quite figure out how to get rid of the bubbles!

 

 

Uncle Tony likes to throw rocks as much as Locklan

so they headed for the docks...

 

 

 

 

 

When they finally came back,

Mindy and Locklan played catch...

 

 

Mindy loves to cook and entertain.  She usually prepares the menu for camp...

 

This week it was pizza!

 

 

No one went into the water...but

"Grandma's Duck" is as much fun on land as it is on the water...

 

You can tow it...

 

 

And hug it...

 

 

And just look at it...

 

 

You can lay beside it...

Even talk to the dogs...

 

 

 

And if you get bored, you can take pictures!

 

 

Locklan was trying very hard to explain how to do it to me...

 

 

 

Later on, Steve, our neighbor/landlord/friend

came over for a few golf pointers from Tony...

 

 

 

Soon, way too soon, it was time to clean up and go home...

 

For every one but me!  Mr. K hitched a ride home with Andy

and I spent the night.

 

The next morning, I had coffee on the deck...

 

 

 

~sigh~

 

Yeppers, I love it out there!

 

 

 

 

 

my guys...

Of course, last weekend we headed for the river...

 

We had lots of fun,

I'll tell you about it later...

 

But best of all,

I got to spend time with my guys...

 

 

~sigh~

 

Am I blessed or what???

Return of the River Rats!

This past weekend, the Red Sock River Rats were out in full force!

We haven't spent as much time there this year as we have in the past...

We had that huge tree fall and destroying much of our dock...

 

Requiring heavy equipment to remove...

 

And the flood this past winter/spring...

The boys' busy schedule...

Me getting to spend so much time with Locklan...

There is much work to be done, and to be honest, some of it will not happen this year,

we haven't even put the boat in the water yet.

But last weekend...we were ready to play!

Mr. K and I were the first to get there...

Well, not the very first, someone (who likes corn) got there first...

 

If you look carefully, you can see the handprint of the culprit!

 

 

Yes, someone with  thumbs!

 

Tony and Mindy came with their dogs...

 

 

 

Since we didn't have the boat in the water,

Tony and Mindy have been floating on rafts and kayaking.

 

I wanted to join in, so I ordered a raft of my own.

 

Mindy helped me

did all the work and got it blown up!

Of course, she had help...

 

It was pretty heavy...

 

And BIG!

 

As in VERY BIG!

I couldn't wait to try it out!

 

 

Yes, the river was ugly, the water was high...

But we still had a great time!

On Sunday, everyone headed back to the river, but Mr. K and I had tickets to see Mama Mia, and Ashley had to work.

 but Andy and Locklan, Tony and Mindy, and My brother-in-law, Mike and his son Tyler were there.

Locklan and Mindy enjoyed 'Grandma's Duck' ...

But he didn't last long...

 

Nap time!

 

But floating on the water does that to me too!

 

Tyler pitched in and cut the grass...

 

Which earned him the right to a float on the swan.

He declined, but did test it out on land...

He also brought his drone and took these dynamite photos of camp...

 

 

You can see that our dock (short dock in center of photo) isn't all done...

 

But we'll take what we can get!  I love our camp on the river!

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!