A Family Paddle

It is Saturday.   Mom (me) doesn't have to work and the only time commitment for the day is a tune-up for the car.  "What do you want to do today, Marin?" asks Kevin.  "I don't know.  What do you want today?" asks Marin.  "We could go for a bike ride, hike to see some waterfalls or. . . . go for a paddle," suggests Kevin.  "It's going to be a warm one," replies Marin.  "It's after twelve," says Kevin.   Hmmmm.  Well. . . after some deliberation (Molly didn't want to hike and Keenan probably wasn't going to last long in the burley) we (surprise, surprise:)) decided on a family paddle.  Exciting, yes?  Of course!  After we packed all the gear, got the kids dressed in water clothes/shoes, loaded the canoe onto the car and drove to the Tualatin River, unloaded the canoe, hauled it to the river (it is VERY heavy), loaded everyone in and listened to Molly yell at Keenan to "sit down!"  for  5 miles, it was. . . something.  Exciting?  Not quite.   But enjoyable, memorable and worth all the work and energy.   Keenan didn't fall out of the canoe this time and did 100-times better than he did last year being able to entertain himself by repeatedly dropping the rope into the water and pulling it back out, as well as doing his share of the paddling:).   Molly enjoyed paddling as well, but gets easily frustrated and annoyed by her brother and when you are in close quarters with no where to escape, well. . . you can imagine OUR frustration.    So in-between moments of relaxing, enjoying the calmness of the water and the warmness of the sun there was the "Leave your brother alone Molly!" and "We are the parents Molly" and  "Stop yelling, you're scaring all the wildlife away" and to Molly and Keenan, "That's enough splashing!"  

I'm just keeping it real, but at the same time, I don't think that after 10 or 20 years the bickering will be what we remember the most.   Looking at the pictures below and Keenan attempting to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat"-- the smiles, the family togetherness, the actuality of doing something out of the ordinary is what we'll remember.   And what we will continue to do.    

Future American Idol, Keenan Mattias, singing "Row Row Row Your Boat"