concrete kayaking

it's a new sport, the kids are still perfecting it. they seem to need kayaks, but their imaginations will be plenty i think! they were practicing, in full gear. big strokes, side braces, wet exits (that are amazingly dry on the concrete)... allen will be so proud. :)

hiking at charleston falls

we went hiking today with erica and it was a perfect day! cloudy and cool, just rike for hiking. (and climbing and exploring and creek crossing...)

greenville falls

after a bit of rain, the water was up, so allen, brian, and dottie ran greenville falls today!

the kids had a ball playing with the dogs and climbing and playing in the falls too.

the waco military experience

the kids loved the military experience at waco!

fun at the lake

we'd hoped to let the kids go over the rapid at bernie's hole in dayton, but the water was too low. so we played at eastwood lake instead!

what did *i* do this weekend?

so i took well over a thousand pics this weekend and managed to get TWO of me, thanks to josh and our 4th of july glow stick experiments with the camera. sometimes i forget to get out from behind the lens. i usually try (so my future scrapbook viewers believe i existed), but this weekend i just forgot.
so my friend melissa sent one she had taken of me, and guess what i'm doing? yep, just what i love doing! :)

fayette station rapid runs

this is the next to last run of the fayette station rapid. it was fun trying to capture the action, then each time they took out, the kids and i jumping up and down saying "do it again! do it again!" :) this is adam, allen, kurt, joe, matt, and michelle.

last run of the day. allen, kurt, joe, matt, and michelle.

new river gorge bridge

we sure love playing under this bridge. kayaking, climbing, hiking, swimming, photographing, there's so much to do! it's the longest arch bridge in the western hemisphere.

happy 4th of july!

it rained all evening and we were stuck in the camper for the 4th of july, so we made our own fun with glow sticks! and there may have been a few light saber fights...

fayette station rapid

after our fun at the campground, we hiked down to fayette station to watch allen and the oac kayakers run the rapid. this is john, michelle, allen, chris, russ, mike, michael, joe, charles, and kurt.

more camping fun, plus meeting melissa!

allen left to run the new river gorge so the kids and i played at the campground. i got to meet THE melissa green (missaboo) and her family! (bruce took the pic on the left, josh the right!) they live pretty close to fayetteville, and thanks to facebook, we made plans to meet and hang out. bruce and chloe came with her and we played at camp, hiked to a waterfall, then went to fayette station to swim and watch the kayakers. the kids did seal launches into, and kayaked in the creek at camp. then they all played over, under, on, by, up, down, and around the waterfall. at fayette station, we got to watch allen and the oac kayakers run the rapid. it was another fun day!

camping in the new river gorge

today allen skipped kayaking with the group and we all went hiking, swimming, kayaking, played at the campground, played with the dogs, and had an all-around fun day! sophia and larissa went on the hike with us and everyone had fun eating raspberries all the way to the river. lizzy loved having a girl around for a change (and i think the boys fought over sophia a bit too!) we took allen and sophia's boats to the river for some kid practice. josh did his first wet exits with a skirt on and loved it. they swam for a while, but it was quite cold for july! the kids played with the dogs, throwing and chasing toys (and each other) up and down the hill and in and out of the water. then we had pizza for dinner and the kids watched a movie while we sat by the campfire. i read inkheart to the kids, but only lizzy stayed awake for the whole chapter. :)

charity dog wash!

this was such a fun event. uncle ryan held a charity dog wash at petland to benefit some local charities. we stopped by just in time for the kids to help wash a huge st. bernard! he didn't want to get into the pool, and no one felt like arguing. :) they washed and brushed a bunch of dogs and gave them goodie bags. very fun!

kayaking greenville falls

well, about as surprising as finding out there were falls that could be kayaked, we also found out greenville falls aren't in greenville. they're in covington, a quick 20 minutes away! so allen called his buddy matt and off we all went for an adventure. the kids and i hiked down to a good vantage point and allen and matt took turns climbing up and kayaking down the falls.

kayaking the great miami river, well kinda...

more like playing in knee deep water with no current in the middle of town, but we sure had fun! i did find it was near impossible to tow three kids in a white water kayak... they took turns paddling and swimming and just enjoying the 96° weather!

more lundy adventures

because the kids want to go on their own adventure, and we're just too wiped from our last one, we compromised:
we're camping, in the wild, wild... back yard. :)
if you hear loud, and probably bad, singing, that'll be us!