canoeing

Now we're back in town with a new paddle. (we weren't able to canoe yet because we only had one paddle). So we've been canoeing a lot! We have this wonderful river that goes through our town called the Des Plaines River. If you have ever seen pictrues of us having any kind of fun at all - be it walking, running, skiing, snow shoeing, and now canoeing, it has only been on the des plaines river trail.

These pictures were taken during our first time on the river (notice life jackets, mom)(also notice long-sleeves - those are COMPLETELY unnecessary these [sweltering] days). we just packed a lunch and pulled over during the middle of our float to let duvick run around (he's uncomfortable sitting in the boat for so long). we have a canoe rack on both of our cars, so we leave one at the pull-out and take the canoe up to the put-in up stream. it works out nicely. our floats are about 3-4 hours, and are so relaxing. it's amazing to be alone in the river. we have seen some really wonderful wild life: deer, muscrat, beaver, heron, raccoon, etc...

duvick is kind of a dweeb in the boat. he rocks it so much, and sometimes he leans out to get a drink or watch the water and just about tips us over. he also gets mud in the boat after we have to portage. he is really alert the whole time, and we think he enjoys it enough, we're just not sure if it's worth it - he's pretty annoying in the boat. he won't be riding any white water with us once we get out of the mid-west, that's for sure!

captain and commander!