Summer Adventure Day 2
What a great adventure we had today! After a breakfast of homemade egg-white omelettes we headed north to the Loxahatchee River near Jupiter, FL (about an hour drive which turned into an hour and a half since I was a negligent navigator and forgot the "resume" the map on my phone after I looked something up. Sorry Jeff!)
We rented canoes from this grumpy middle-aged man in a trailer by the river and headed down the cypress-lined river looking for any sign of alligators. At first we were nervous (the kids especially) but after we saw no real wildlife for 10 minutes, they calmed down and enjoyed the paddle. We had two canoes. Jeff, Calvin & Isaac were in the first canoe. Kira, Kate, Mikey & I were in the second. We paddled about an hour down a beautiful little river with cypress, palms and all kinds of tropical vegetation. Birds of all sizes were perched in the trees making noises. You could hear the buzzing of the insects and the ripple of the water over fallen trees in the river. Between paddling, steering and trying to snap a few pictures we were also constantly watching for any signs of wildlife. We did see three medium-sized turtles sunning themselves on fallen logs over the river but never got a picture. The girls and I were sure we saw an alligator. We slowed to a stop and looked closer. I even took a picture I was so sure it was. We called Jeff and the boys over and got a little closer only to realize it was just foam (in the shape of an alligator).
After about an hour of heading downstream it was time to turn around. Yes, we had to paddle back UPSTREAM. And yes, it was really hard! It was about an hour and a half back up. But Kira and Calvin were great paddlers with Jeff and I. The hardest part was steering back up through the twisting, turning river and steering around the fallen trees and low hanging braches filled with caterpillar nests. I did get frustrated a time or two but they were short-lived and Kira and I got better at figuring out what we were doing. We stopped at a small dam on the way back for a little picnic of PB & J sandwiches and watermelon. When we took off our lifejackets we realized that we were all drenched in sweat from the heat, humidity and exercise!
By the time we got back to the canoe launch we were totally ready for a swim. But not in a river with alligators! We talked to some locals and headed to Jupiter to hit the beach. I don't really know what beach we ended up at but it was just what we needed. We swam, played in the surf and built a family of turtles out of sand for an hour and a half and it was heavenly! By the way, I am so happy that Mikey's waterproof cast cover has been working GREAT! He was even able to swim in the ocean today without a problem. What a relief!
After the beach we were getting hungry for dinner so we jumped in the car for the hour ride back to the house. We got out of the car and the kids and I jumped straight into the pool while Jeff went to Pollo Tropical for some Caribbean fast food. Mikey mastered a front flip while Calvin and I swam "sprints" back and forth in the 40' long pool to get in a little workout to keep him in shape for soccer. It is actually pretty exhausting to swim "sprints" like that. We would swim down and back as fast as we could and then rest for 10 seconds before doing it again. We're going to try and increase the number we do each day.
After dinner and a little more swimming we showered up and ate ice cream around the kitchen table while Kira taught a family devotional. Since Jeff and I have just been planning these camps this summer (I was the Girls Camp director and Jeff is the YM president and just planned and went on High Adventure Camp with the Teachers and Priests) we decided that we would try and follow that model a little on our trip this summer. Each morning we are going to read our scriptures together and then each night one of the kids is in charge of a family devotional and we have a planning meeting to plan the next day. Kira taught a devotional on living up to our privileges and showed us the Mormon Messages to go along with it. It was awesome!
On a side note, we are trying to do a "digital free" trip. I don't know if we will completely be able to do it. Obviously we let them use electronics on the airplane for the sake of the other passengers (and us) but the rest of the time we want them to do other stuff. Today went great! We left all of the iPads/iPhones/iPods at home (except Jeff & I have our phones) and nobody even asked! They talked, played, teased, drew and looked out the window. I loved it!
We rented canoes from this grumpy middle-aged man in a trailer by the river and headed down the cypress-lined river looking for any sign of alligators. At first we were nervous (the kids especially) but after we saw no real wildlife for 10 minutes, they calmed down and enjoyed the paddle. We had two canoes. Jeff, Calvin & Isaac were in the first canoe. Kira, Kate, Mikey & I were in the second. We paddled about an hour down a beautiful little river with cypress, palms and all kinds of tropical vegetation. Birds of all sizes were perched in the trees making noises. You could hear the buzzing of the insects and the ripple of the water over fallen trees in the river. Between paddling, steering and trying to snap a few pictures we were also constantly watching for any signs of wildlife. We did see three medium-sized turtles sunning themselves on fallen logs over the river but never got a picture. The girls and I were sure we saw an alligator. We slowed to a stop and looked closer. I even took a picture I was so sure it was. We called Jeff and the boys over and got a little closer only to realize it was just foam (in the shape of an alligator).
After about an hour of heading downstream it was time to turn around. Yes, we had to paddle back UPSTREAM. And yes, it was really hard! It was about an hour and a half back up. But Kira and Calvin were great paddlers with Jeff and I. The hardest part was steering back up through the twisting, turning river and steering around the fallen trees and low hanging braches filled with caterpillar nests. I did get frustrated a time or two but they were short-lived and Kira and I got better at figuring out what we were doing. We stopped at a small dam on the way back for a little picnic of PB & J sandwiches and watermelon. When we took off our lifejackets we realized that we were all drenched in sweat from the heat, humidity and exercise!
By the time we got back to the canoe launch we were totally ready for a swim. But not in a river with alligators! We talked to some locals and headed to Jupiter to hit the beach. I don't really know what beach we ended up at but it was just what we needed. We swam, played in the surf and built a family of turtles out of sand for an hour and a half and it was heavenly! By the way, I am so happy that Mikey's waterproof cast cover has been working GREAT! He was even able to swim in the ocean today without a problem. What a relief!
After the beach we were getting hungry for dinner so we jumped in the car for the hour ride back to the house. We got out of the car and the kids and I jumped straight into the pool while Jeff went to Pollo Tropical for some Caribbean fast food. Mikey mastered a front flip while Calvin and I swam "sprints" back and forth in the 40' long pool to get in a little workout to keep him in shape for soccer. It is actually pretty exhausting to swim "sprints" like that. We would swim down and back as fast as we could and then rest for 10 seconds before doing it again. We're going to try and increase the number we do each day.
After dinner and a little more swimming we showered up and ate ice cream around the kitchen table while Kira taught a family devotional. Since Jeff and I have just been planning these camps this summer (I was the Girls Camp director and Jeff is the YM president and just planned and went on High Adventure Camp with the Teachers and Priests) we decided that we would try and follow that model a little on our trip this summer. Each morning we are going to read our scriptures together and then each night one of the kids is in charge of a family devotional and we have a planning meeting to plan the next day. Kira taught a devotional on living up to our privileges and showed us the Mormon Messages to go along with it. It was awesome!
On a side note, we are trying to do a "digital free" trip. I don't know if we will completely be able to do it. Obviously we let them use electronics on the airplane for the sake of the other passengers (and us) but the rest of the time we want them to do other stuff. Today went great! We left all of the iPads/iPhones/iPods at home (except Jeff & I have our phones) and nobody even asked! They talked, played, teased, drew and looked out the window. I loved it!
Getting ready to launch the canoes. Kate was really nervous!
Calvin catchin' frogs.
All set! Look at poor little Katesie!
Not so scared anymore!
Beautiful!
Cypress trees on the Loxahatchee River
The "foam" alligator.
Taking a pit stop on the paddle upriver.
Me & my paddling partner. Kira was awesome!
Swimming in the warm, beautiful ocean in Jupiter, FL.
Love the waterproof cast cover!
Working on our sand turtle family.
I think I could watch Isaac play in the surf for hours. His face was pure joy! He loved it!
All snuggled up watching a little Disney after the devotional tonight.
So fun! I love reading about your adventures! I'm going through Cal's frozen lemonade withdrawals though. I should have stocked up ;) So awesome that you found a waterproof cast!
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures. The foliage around the river looks amazing! I'm so glad you found a cast cover for Mikey, it looks like it works much better than a bread bag.
ReplyDelete