Paddling North Chick

This is the last week before Baby#2 arrives and I have really been desiring to spend some final time as a family of three. 

 

On Easter Sunday I actually brought up the idea of a quick paddle at North Chickamauga Creek, but Daniel nixed the idea and told me I needed to rest since I was battling a painful sinus headache. I begrudgingly heeded his advice and took a nap.

This Sunday I felt great and was not to be deterred. Forget that our taxes are due and I know Daniel needs some down time from his long work hours, I really wanted to do one family activity with just the three of us.

Jack must know that things are about to change because he has been incredibly sweet to me (more than usual). He pats my belly and asks if he can climb on me if he is gentle. He also has been giving me lots of sweet kisses on the cheek and loves to tell me that the reason he and Daniel bought me flowers for Easter is because they love me. 

Sophie must also know something is up because she has been shadowing me non stop. When your dog is underfoot it is very difficult to get any house work done.

As for our paddling trip, I decided we should go to North Chick with a put in at Greenway Farms behind the dog park. The water is flat and extremely peaceful. 

We only saw a few people fishing and it was incredibly quite for being in town. The water was pretty chilly (it is April afterall) so I am thankful we didn't fall in.

We still need to get Jack his own paddle. He whined for a while that he needed a grown up paddle. We got him a stick to "paddle" with, but while he liked dragging it through the water, it was not the same as having his own paddle. 

With a newborn entering our lives in less than a week, I don't know when we will be able to get back on the water. I'm pretty sure Jack and Daniel will have an opportunity before I will.

We are even considering the possibility of kayaks to make paddling with littles a bit more manageable. I'm just thankful that we were able to take Jack out today. 

Sadly for me, loading a heavy canoe, launching said canoe and paddling did not jump start my labor.

Summer Kickoff: Paddling on Wolftever Creek

Hiking, biking and paddling all within a 30-minute drive of our house. Have I mentioned that we love where we live?

To round out Memorial Day Weekend and our Summer kickoff, we decided to take Jack out in our canoe. We actually got him in the canoe with us when he was 11.5 months old, but I had to hold him the entire time and we were fearful of tipping. 

This time it was the real deal – he sat in the middle, by himself and didn't tip the boat over or try to jump out.

Before getting on the water we casually mentioned that we were going to go ride in a boat and wear our life jackets and our little guy seemed to be on board with our plans.

Our only issue before launching the canoe was that Jack was adamantly against letting me put sunblock on him. 

Since a fair-skinned toddler shouldn't be out on the water in the middle of the day without sunblock, I stuck to my guns and insisted on slathering him from head to toe. 

In the end I won and we were able to get out on the water.

Since it was Memorial Day, and we were launching on Wolftever Creek with access to Harrison Bay, there were tons of boaters to share the water with. 

Jack was happy to hang halfway off the side of our canoe and drag his hands through the water but he also enjoyed watching the boats, wake boarders, tubers, and people riding jet skis. 

Other than sticking his hands in the water, his favorite part was probably waving at everyone going by – especially since lake people are always friendly and wave back.

Thankfully Jack didn't seem bothered when we had to ride out the wakes of bigger boats. I'm even more thankful that we didn't tip!

We paddled about 1.3 miles over the course of an hour. We took it slow and turned back sooner than if it had just been me and Daniel. We didn't want to run the risk of a toddler melt down far from shore.

Thankfully the only time Jack was really upset (besides the sunblock incident) was when we got out. He wanted to ride some more. Or at the very least, wade in the water. 

We settled for some brief wading, and then promised ice cream from Chick-fil-a in an effort to tear him away from the water.

If this weekend is any indication, Jack seems on board with most of our hobbies and we are looking forward to doing more activities as a family.

Northwest Georgia: Canoeing

I am a sucker for first-time experiences. I like to go new places and experience new things. There is so much to see and do in this world that I guess I feel that I will miss out if I just spend my life repeating the same experiences over and over.

One of the great things about having kids is that not only can you have great experiences, but regardless of whether the experience is new or not, it is new to the child and you get the privilege of experience it FIRST HAND through the child. It is truly amazing.

After a busy Saturday of visiting Burt's Farm and Hillcrest Orchards, we slept in, had a late breakfast and then decided to take our canoe out on the little lake behind the cabin. We thought it would be easier to launch from a put in point up the road, so we loaded the canoe and piled into the Subaru.

 

 
This was my niece's first canoeing experience. She was so excited. She really wanted to swim and was not keen on wearing a life vest. Her mom gave her a pep talk – mostly about not tipping us over in the middle of the lake. None of the adults wanted to take a swim in October!

Then I demonstrated the vest – which ended up being too small, so we upgraded her.

Then we loaded up and were off.

The last time I was in a canoe with my brother and sister, I was in college. We went to the Spring River in Arkansas as a family. We managed to flip our boat on a rather large rapid. This was a very different experience than that!

The lake was calm and beautiful. It was a perfect fall day.

Izzy had a blast. We circled the lake, then came back so Daniel could go out. Then we swapped one final time before heading in.

I think Angela was paranoid about Izzy, because every little movement elicited a, "Don't move Izzy!" Which I thought was funny since Daniel and I take Sophie out with us and she jumps from side to side and front to back and has never flipped us. We just have to pay attention and shift our weight to compensate.

After we came in, Daniel took the boat across the lake to the dock at our cabin while I drove everyone else back.

Jack woke up from his nap and we headed down to the dock for his first time in the canoe.

He was very laid back about the whole experience {pretty typical of our little guy}. 

Though he is not a fan of having sun in his eyes. Next time we will have to remember to bring his sunglasses.

His first time in our canoe was a success!

We are so thankful for opportunities like this to share our passions and experiences with others – especially our family and the kids.

If you are interested in going canoeing sometime or would like to introduce your kiddo to this type of experience, let us know – we are always up for a new adventure.

 
Next time we'll have to persuade Robert and Levi to go out with us :)

Against the Wind

Several weeks ago, Daniel's sisters made plans to come visit us on the second weekend in October and they offered to babysit Jack so that we could go on a date. We don't have many opportunities for free babysitting -- or dates -- so we were certainly interested in taking them up on their offer.

When discussing our date options, I told Daniel that I would love to go canoeing. It has been over a year since we were on the water -- I was 7 months pregnant on our last trip and I have been anxious to get back on the water. Mountain biking was also high on my list but it requires more of a drive than paddling.

Friday night, before Daniel's sisters arrived, we loaded the canoe on the Subaru. Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast with Jack and his aunts before heading out the door. I'm sure I left them an overly extensive list, but that is what moms do -- right?

We figured that we had a 3-hour window to get out on the water and back home. We drove out to The Docks at Goose Pond Colony to put in -- about 20 minutes from our house. We decided that our goal would be to cross the main channel of the Tennessee River.

To start, the wind was against us. We were averaging 3mph and figured the return trip would be faster since we would have a tailwind.

Lake Guntersville and this area of the Tennessee River have this lovely thing called milfoil. It is basically the kudzu of the water. When canoeing {or boating} you want to avoid this weed since it is difficult to paddle through and motors can get tangled up in it. The waterways have paths through the milfoil that have been treated, which means that you have to take specific routes to cross the lake/river. It also means that you end up in narrower channels with bigger boats. Thankfully most of the boats that passed us were nice enough to slow down when passing us, though we did get to ride a few waves.

Once we made it to the other side of the river, we took a water break before turning around.

On the return trip, the wind died down and then turned into a cross wind. While better than a headwind, it wasn't as good as having a tailwind. We maxed out at 5mph and finished our trip with 4 miles under our belts.

On the way back, we decided to cut through a section of milfoil instead of going around. In the middle of this weed, the wind died down and thousands of tiny little bugs took over our airspace. We could barely breathe as they swarmed our boat. We paddled as quickly as possible to escape the barely visible bugs. We're still not sure what they were. We hope that we don't get caught in them again. Once we were on the open water again, and the wind picked back up, they mostly disappeared.

It was great to get out and do one of our hobbies together again. The weather was perfect -- sunshine with a cool fall breeze. In case you're wondering... the only time we talked about Jack was when we discussed how soon we thought we could bring him out on the water with us.