Paddling

On Friday morning we all (minus Jane and June) decided to go kayak.  I had bought this handy dry bag from my point and shoot camera and decided this was the day to bring it along.  While it's not perfect, the quality is slightly better than a disposable waterproof camera, if you can ignore the black rings on some of the photos.  This was a result of part of the lens being obstructed and was only an issue when using the widest angle of my P&S.  John started out the trip in a kayak with me.  He looks so happy here, doesn't he?  I'm not sure he realized I was taking a photo.

It wasn't long before we were moving up river.  Then John wanted to touch the water.  Sure - no problem, I said.  I was NOT thinking.  He leaned one way and I did NOT lean the other.  Over went the kayak!  John handled it well.  He had a life jacket on and I kept reassuring him it was alright, although I might have been reassuring myself.  My brother and John were there right away to help us out of the water.  There's no way I could have righted the kayak and gotten back in if it wasn't for them.  So John got to enjoy the rest of the ride with Jimmy.

As I mentioned before, I really like paddling this section of the Blanco river.  So peaceful.

Even with a bunch of folks along for company...

The hallmark of this trip upriver was the fact that my mother joined us.  She's not much on bodies of water larger than a bathtub.  This is something I did not know until we started going to Wimberley.  We never had a pool growing up and never had access to one in the neighborhood either.  So I never knew that my mother doesn't really swim.

So as you can see, she was pretty excited to have completed her trip successfully.

Later in the day, we went to the pool.  I didn't swim.  I just went along to take some photos and some video.  The week was pretty much without major incident.  But Friday was broke that since I'd already tipped the kayak.  But the best was yet to come.  I was taking photos and decided I'd take some videos of John and June jumping off the edge of the pool.  John said, " I'm going to do a turn and jump."  Sure, sounds great, I said.  What he said didn't register in my brain.  June went first followed by John.  And I got it all on video.  I won't show it here.  I can't even watch it myself.  So just imagine was a turn and jump means to a 3 year old.  That's just what he did.  He jumped, turning and managed to scrape the whole right side of his abdomen down the concrete edge of the pool. Thankfully he didn't hit his head!  But of course, he screamed.  We were only a few cabins away from ours and Jimmy and Jane came running, knowing immediately that it was JHP.  Daddy and I both earned the bad parent award that day.  Daddy's shining moment:  "And THAT is why I tell you to jump away from the edge of the pool!" in response to all the crying.

Of course, while we were all ready to call it a night at the pool, John was not.  So he and Daddy continued to play - safely in the middle of the pool.  If you look carefully at this photo, you'll see the bruising already forming along John's ribs.  We started calling those John's tiger stripes.  They lasted almost a week.

I've always known that JHP was competitive.  But it became very obvious in the pool when you challenged John to a race.  He can turn on the speed!

As were were preparing for supper that night, a baby bird payed us a visit.  He found his way to our sliding glass door.  He couldn't fly very far.  And boy, was his momma concerned!  Jimmy managed to get him into a tree, but the bird just seemed really confused and kept trying to make his way back into our area, where his momma was not.  Unfortunately, when the kids went back to the pool that evening, it looked as if this little bird had met his demise on the road.

-EBP-