River Rats

Joe grew up a river rat. I grew up with a best friend whose a river rat. And I do believe that this is the year the Funny Noses officially become river rats because it is early in the month of May and we already have our first trip to the river under our belt.

When we first got stationed here in 29 Palms, Joe was excited. Forget that we were going to be living in an isolated desert town. What used to be a 4 hour drive to the river from our hometown just got shortened to less than 2 hours. Joe's excitement was stifled by the fact that pregnancy and newborn babies don't really mix well with day camping in 100+ degree weather and cruising around on a jet boat. However, now that the kids are older and have developed a love for the water, it would make sense that we start taking advantage. So I do predict that this is the year our entire family becomes river rats.

The biggest news from this last trip isn't the fact that the water was not nearly as cold as we were expecting or that the kids took little time to start swimming around in their life jackets, picking up right where they left off last Labor Day. No the biggest news was that since there were very few people on the water Sunday, I finally decided it was time that I learn to drive the boat. So with Joe close by, I told everyone to hang on for dear life and took control of the wheel. It was scary. I don't really like the fact that maneuvering a boat does not produce an immediate reaction but it was not as hard as I thought and I drove for a pretty good stretch up river, even crossing under a bridge.

So here are some of the pictures that document our day. The first stop was a cool little sandbar we located where the kids (and Scottie is just automatically lumped into this category) enjoyed digging holes and engaging in a water fight:




Here is the family with our boat:

Once the water rose, we lost our sandbar, so Joe and Jadyn drove us back to camp to grab our lunch and then I drove us to a little cove that has become a location of choice because the kids can swim without the worry of the current or speeding water sporters. We were greeted at the cove by a pair of ducks, wandering from boat to boat in search of free grub. The kids were all to happy to accommodate them. It was here that we made friends for life as when it was time to leave, the ducks tried to follow us. LOL!

Jadyn loves to drive the boat:

Jake loves to be protected during boat rides and he keeps his ears plugged the whole time:



Me behind the wheel:

Ali and Jadyn enjoying the ride:

Swimming in the cove:


Our new friends:

Feeding our new friends:


Jake's hair after speeding up and down the river:

We spent all day on the water and as much as it was fun and relaxing, it was also exhausting. Have you ever seen a child so tired, she can fall asleep on a moving jet boat? Through all that noise and whipping winds, this was Jadyn:


And that about sums up our day - fun and exhausting and definitely a day that will hopefully be repeated many more times through the upcoming months. If we really want to be a family of river rats, we have to do the name proud.