Someone stopped me in the hallway at church today to tell me that they really enjoyed my Facebook post about our Mother's Day adventure last week, and encouraged me to never stop adventuring with my kids.
If I'm being honest, I share online because it is an easy way for me to "scrapbook" and I like that my memories will pop up with these little snippets of our lives years from now. But a part of me also hopes that we are inspiring other people to find and pursue their own passions as well.
And if you ever want to chat about our adventures, don't be shy. My kids will tell you all about it from their perspective and Daniel and I are always willing to share the good and the bad with anyone that wants to listen.
For Mother's Day the weather had turned warm and I was hoping to get our on the water in our kayaks for the first time this season.
Daniel suggested we put in on Chickamauga Lake and paddle through the lock to the Tennessee River. Our initial plan was pretty ambitious... we thought we could make it all the way to Coolidge Park downtown.
I was a little leery of locking through with the boys. The fact that the lock is right next to a large dam concerned me. Daniel (who works for Dam Safety on the Chickamauga Lock) told me it would be fine. So I went along with the plan (though we did check mileage and agreed to take out at a 4 mile point instead of 7.5 miles at Coolidge Park).
After church and a quick lunch at Einstein Bagels, we changed clothes and headed over to drop a vehicle at our take out and then back to Chickamauga Lake. We thought could put in at a private marina just north of the lock in Hixson, but learned that was not going to be possible. So we headed back across the dam to the public access on the lake (this added about half a mile to our paddle).
Jack was a trooper and had no problem making his way across to the lock. Daniel called the lock operator (who he knows from work) to let them know we were coming through and we were told to paddle up to the front of the lock to tie off to the floating mooring bit. And then we waited.
Isaac had a brief moment of panic when Daniel had to stand up in our kayak to tie us up, but he settled down to enjoy the ride.
It was a 50 foot drop as the water let us slowly down to the river level. It made me a little sea sick as the lock gate got higher and higher above our heads, but it was a neat experience.
Once we made it through the lock, we padded to the base of the next bridge (a railroad trestle bridge) where we sat in the bridge's shadow and had a snack.
After our snack we continued on to our take out point. About a mile from stopping Jack decided he wanted to be towed behind us so that he could drag his feet in the water and not have to paddle any more. About this same time, Isaac fell asleep in Daniel's lap. Thankfully Daniel had the foresight to bring a pad for Isaac and we were able to lay him face down for the remainder of our time on the water.
It was a great way to spend Mother's Day together as a family. And a much better experience than the last time we tried to take the boys paddling on a Mother's Day! With each year and each adventure, everything gets a little bit easier!
