Floating!

Last year we had made plans to go floating with our friends Alisha and Rich, but unfortunately the weather turned bad so we weren't able to go. Alisha and I made plans for us to go this year and I was so happy to see it was going to be super hot! I didn't tell the kids what we were doing I just told them we were hanging out with Mr. Rich and Ms. Alisha and they had some big toys we were going to play with. On our drive up to Fall City the river came into view and I started asking the kids if they saw the river and did they see the people in the river and the boats. That's when I asked them if they knew what we were going to do. Jack spoke right up and said we were going on a boat in the river! They seemed excited and bit nervous at the same time. 

The first thing that needed to be done was inflating the boats. While Rich and Michael were handling that I sprayed all the kids down with sunscreen....REALLY WELL!!! Of course I coated myself as well and I sprayed myself two more times during our trip! No more sunburn for me thank you very much!!! Zeke was a bit grumpy since we were in full on sun and he wanted a snack. I got him some fruit snacks and he stood in the van for a bit. He's so cute wearing his 12 month swim trucks and shirt! 

We started out with 5 boats, but about halfway through our trip we went down a little bit of rapids....using that term very lightly...and since the river was so low the boat that was carrying the cooler hit an expose tree branch and popped! Thankfully the bottom of the boat didn't pop so we had time to find a place to pull over and then move everything from the popped boat into the other boats. 

Rich was working hard getting the boats all pumped up! After the boats were all pumped up Michael and Rich drove 3 miles down river to leave our van so we'd have a vehicle at the end of our journey. The kids and I waited in the shade across the street. This was probably the hardest part of the trip for the kids. They hate waiting! 

It's quite a production getting all the boats down to the river...there is only one trail and you have to deal with everyone else bringing their boats down so it can get a little congested. Michael said that he and Rich would take a couple boats down and then have to wait for a few parties to bring their boats down and then jump on the trail as quick as they could before another group would start making their way down. 

Alisha is so cute...she went to Party City and got the boys cute pirate attire! They even had inflatable swords!!! She also got Ella some Minnie Mouse ears, glasses and a bucket! 

My Ella girl doesn't really like anything obstructing her beautiful locks though...she likes her hair to flow freely! She was so cute at the front of the boat with Daddy. Zeke is also in Daddy's boat, but he is plastered to Michael so you can't even see him. Later on he loosened up though and started sitting on his own. 

I didn't bring any sort of hat, but Alisha gave me this hat that she and Rich got for participating in a run. It worked great keeping the sun out of my eyes. 

After we got a little bit down river we got all tied together. Owen and Jack were together in a boat, I was with Alisha in the double tube with the built in cooler. Michael was with Ella and Zeke and Rich was in a boat by himself. 

After being on the boat for just a little while Zeke asked for his sandwich so we all decided to eat. 

After floating/paddling down the river....it's low so there really isn't much of a current we saw a little bit of a sandy beach area so we pulled over for the kids to swim and play. 

Owen had been dying to swim! 

Zeke stayed in the boat for a while playing with water in Ella's Minnie Mouse bucket! 

Where we stopped there was a little stream flowing into the river so of course Owen and Jack had to try to make a dam! 

While we let the kids play Rich got to work readjusting our set up. The way we were tied together just wasn't working very well so he rearranged it and then it was great! 

Time to set off! 

The river was really busy, but Alisha said they've seen it much busier. It's crazy!!! The nice thing was even though people were drinking we didn't encounter anything bad happening. There was a group that we floated past and a lady was swearing and a guy in her group said..."Hey there's kids!" and she said she didn't "blanking care" and then a bunch of people in her group got on her case so she stopped! The only thing that was gross was all the people smoking pot! It stinks! It smells like skunk spray and it's disgusting. We smelled it numerous times during the day. Darn Washington State! 

After floating for a little while longer we pulled over at a shady spot....it wasn't really a good place to get out and walk around...too many rocks, but it was nice to just rest in the cooler shade. 

The kids also had fun playing musical boats. When we finally set off again all the boys ended up with Daddy in the front while Ella decided to be all by herself in the boat in the back. 

We had some snacks while we were enjoying our shade. Alisha had brought some Doritoes that were buffalo wings with ranch flavored. They were yummy! They were a little spicy so Zeke wasn't too sure about them at first. 

He's thinking they might not be too bad! 

We were talking about him and this is what he does whenever anyone looks at him. He is such a cheeser! He ate about half the chip and then tossed it in the water! 

Hanging out in Mommy and Alisha's tubes! 

We floated for a while more and then got to an area where they have a "diving board"...it's really a tree that's fallen over and people walk out on it and jump in. There were tons of people just lining the shore watching people jump in. Even kids maybe a little older than Owen were jumping in. The nice thing was people would clap for everyone! 

Of course Owen was having the best time going out into the deeper water. 

Zeke was being so silly here. Walking around making silly noises and laughing up a storm. He was definitely running on fumes! 

He never ones had a meltdown though! Miracles do happen! 

A picture of me and my man....rare! When Alisha and I were planning the trip I asked her what she wore on the river and she said she wears surf shorts. I didn't even know they had such a thing. I didn't want to just hang out in my swimsuit all day, but I knew that I didn't want normal shorts getting all wet. She let me have a pair of her shorts and they were perfect. Just a little something to cover my legs and make me feel a bit more modest. Not that anyone on the river would have cared....you get to see all different types of bodies and all different types of swim attire!

Alisha said the diving board area is where everyone usually downs their last beers...there were quite a few groups just hanging out. 

Such a handsome dude! 

After this area we still floated for another 30 minutes or so. In all we were on the river for 5 hours! It did not seem like it was that long at all. It was such a blast. No meltdowns, no sunburns and hours of fun! Of course after getting out you have to carry all the boats up from the shore and start deflating them. While the guys did that Alisha and I took my van and drove the 3 miles up river to get Rich's truck. It was crazy how many more cars were there then when we got in the river. Alisha was actually worried she wouldn't be able to get the truck out because they had packed so tightly into the parking lot. 

When we got back to the guys I helped the kids get changed and then we loaded up all our stuff and headed out. We stopped at this cute burger place, but the wait for food was 25 - 30 minutes. It smelled great so it was no wonder there was a wait. We decided to drive home and we stopped at Red Robin and got food to go. We let the kids watch Despicable Me 2 in the van so when we got home we brought it inside so they could finish watching and we ate our dinner. It was around 7:00pm...we usually eat dinner at 5pm so the fact that there was no meltdowns from this alone is crazy awesome! 

Rich and Alisha were so amazing...a lot of work goes into floating on the river and we were so thankful they let us tag along. We can not wait to do it again!