Kayaking the Verde: Day 1, A Dunking

Some parts of the Verde are calm and glassy.   The birds are calling and swooping, and fish literally jump out of the water into the air.  It's incredibly peaceful.

And tiring, if you are using your own clean, renewable energy source to get down river - your arms.

I started looking forward to the excitement of swift flowing water (Read about Day 1: Initiation here if you missed it).
I was still cautious; I knew that thousands of pounds of water could easily pin a man down. When we heard the rapids, we slowly approached, craning to see the end.  We would scope out the best route down, perhaps straight down the middle, perhaps on the right side, then veering left.  We tried to follow the "V", or fastest flow of water, while avoiding any obstacles. We kept our eye out for any eddies or shadows, indicating a submerged rock.

The Verde at low flow has a lot of rocks, undergrowth encroaching the water, and fallen trees blocking the path.

A fallen tree blocks the river.  Look in the center of the photo for Anita in her blue and white kayak.

The first person down a rough spot or rapid would call out the problem areas to those behind.  While kayaking is an "every man for himself" type sport, we looked out for each other and helped each other when we could. I thought I was getting a pretty good hang of kayaking the 'rapids'.

Pride usually goes before the fall, doesn't it?  In my case, it was a serious dunking.

I came down a rocky descent that turned sharply to the left once it hit the river bank.  The flow of water ran directly into a fallen tree along the outside edge of the curve.  That is a nasty, nasty place to be.  I don't know why I didn't see it.
 
After I cleared the rocks, I had no time to paddle out of the fast flow of water, and it pushed me into the tree. My kayak tipped on the impact of hitting the tree, and the water caught the edge and flung my kayak over.  My hat and sunglasses were swept away as I plunged head first into the racing water. I pushed out of the kayak and away, kicking against the pull to get sucked along the bank and tree.  I came up for air and grabbed wildly at my paddle then kicked hard to catch my upside down kayak.  My sandal shoes and pants felt like a ton of bricks, so I stopped fighting the river and floated with the current, holding on to my kayak as I went.  I was thankful for my life vest, as it started to scrape rocks in the shallower water.

Well, I just completed a wet exit.  Before getting to the river, I worried and worried about getting stuck in my kayak under water.  Once upside down, I didn't even think, I just acted. And I was able to clear it just fine, my splash skirt not even giving an ounce of resistance in that force.

My hubby helped me dump my kayak, and everyone took a 5 minute break while I caught my breath.  We were thankful for the learned lesson of tying all your gear together, so you have only one thing to grab when you tip instead of four.

I developed a healthy fear of rapids preceding a curve as well as heavy water flow running into trees or bushes after that dunking.  The force of the river is nothing to mess with.

And 42 miles of river is nothing to dally on.  Despite being shaken and drenched, I had to push on.

I was glad to stop for dinner a couple hours later.  We found a break in the growth along the bank, and pulled up onto a rocky beach.  We set about finding wood for a campfire to cook over, as well as long, thin branches to substitute as tent poles (remember? I lost mine in the very first rapid). The guys picked out branches, then stripped them of snags with their knives.  It worked like a charm!

And my inflatable trail seat, aka my kayak butt cushion, was found to be worth every last penny, as I perched on it to scarf down dinner and then later fold in half for my pillow.  When you spend three days in a kayak, you have to pack light!

Jari and Anita served up dinner that night and we dined on delicious tasting Alaskan salmon and moose steaks with alfredo pasta.  It was, without a doubt, the best meal we'd eat on our trip!

Kayaking the Verde: Day 1, Initiation

Right off the bat, I have to navigate a rapid.
I have never kayaked a river before, so it's no surprise that I get hung up on a boulder, turn sideways, and fill to the brim with water. The water is not that cold, but it is still a shock. I hop out and all my gear starts floating out of the kayak.  I frantically grab dry bags, rope, and water bottles as the river pushes and pulls on my pant legs.  As I  struggle to push my kayak upright, I see a black bag containing our tent poles slip away!

Wait, let me rephrase that first sentence...right off the bat, I have to navigate fast moving water.

Our Verde River Guide stated that we would encounter 13 rapids on our 42 mile trip.
We felt like we ran 13 rapids in the first 10 miles.
So either we don't know how to distinguish between a rapid and fast-flowing water, or there are significantly more rapids at low cfs (the river guide classifies rapids at 100 cfs, and we were on about 50 to start).

Oh, and by we, I mean Dean and I and my dear aunt and uncle, Jari and Anita.

Photo creds to Anita.  Read her account of the day here.

Where was I? Oh yes, 5 minutes in, I get tipped, soaked, and lose some gear.
What an initiation to river kayaking!
There is nothing to do but move on.

One minute later, "rapid" number two proves that I still haven't learned my lesson, as I get turned sideways on the rocks again. This time, I bail before I fill to the brim.

After that, I learned to point straight and paddle fast through the obstacle course of boulders. I found that I could twist and pivot my own body to help get my kayak around boulders I didn't have time to paddle around. And most importantly, I learned that the kayak spray skirt was made exactly for this kind of kayaking (in a hard sided kayak) and was worth the hassle to wear. Thank goodness I didn't leave it behind in my fear of getting flipped and stuck upside down!

We did have some yin to our yang.  There was as much calm, glassy water as there was rough. Sometimes the river looked like glass, reflecting our top halves, the cliffs and clouds, as well as huge startled birds taking flight.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.

After paddling the glassy waters, I started anticipating the sound of rapids.

I didn't know yet, however, just how dangerous the river could be.

Links to the rest of the posts in this series:
Day 1, Part 2: A Dunking
Day 2: Pushed to Our Limits
Day 3: Grand Finale

Performing

I am out of touch with a lot of things this year.  

Our kids' progress in piano lessons is one of them, because I no longer see the teacher each week. Dean does the pick-up (and forgets to relay her comments to me).

Last fall, we questioned whether or not we would do piano lessons this year (they run on the same schedule as the school year).  We started with a "we'll see how it goes and quit if it's too much" thought.  Many times I said it was time to quit, but here we are with one month of lessons left!

Our oldest three are in lessons.  They have two recitals a year.  Last week was one of them.

Two days before the recital, the kids told me that they were playing a trio.  

"What?! But you haven't been practicing!!" I said. At least not at home.

I heard them practice twice.

But they pretty much nailed it!

 

And so we continue to fly by the seats of our pants around here.

Somehow, it all works out in the end.

But kids...it's still a good idea to practice and prepare before you perform!

Oh Babies!

I want the twins to stay 9 months old forever.  They have the sweetest, fullest cheeks, the most adorable little giggles, and the cutest babble.  They both have this thing with fake laughing.  If you get them going, pretty soon it turns into real laughter. Cutest thing ever!

I think all moms feel this way at some point. Or three.
I, for one, feel like I'm a little less sleep deprived now (it only took 9 months!) and able to really enjoy them.
It's not that I don't want them to ever grow up, it's just that I want to freeze time and savor this moment because I know how fleeting it is.

With five other children, I especially appreciate the babies.  They have an innocence that is so refreshing.  It's not that I have naughty or terrible older children. On the contrary, I think they're pretty great kids. It's just that raising children involves all kinds of tough decisions and hard moments.  But the babies? Oh, the babies! They smile and hold out their arms for you and love you no matter how often you mess up.  They look up to you for every single need they have, yes, but their sweetness pays for it tenfold.  It's an incredibly fulfilling job.

With babies, every day is fresh and full of potential for learning and exploring.
They don't remember yesterday and it's hardships.  They simply enjoy the present.

They teach me what unconditional love is.  They teach me how to live for the moment.
Every toothless grin and each little cuddle and every single giggle they give makes my heart sing.
I get to be their mama!  I'm so lucky and so blessed to be their mom!

Kitchen news and a mini vacay

I just got off the phone with the dude who ordered my flooring.  It turns out the company is closing, and we may not get that flooring that I already paid (an arm and a leg) for, which happens to be a match to the rest of the flooring in the house, which is no longer printed. Drat! Do these things always happen on Mondays?

Let me back up though.
I'm getting a new kitchen!!
I am beyond excited.

We ahem, yes we (hey, I tore out one 12 inch wall cabinet!) are doing it ourselves, so its really slow going. I'm tired of having no sink, but I've waited 3 years for this renovation so it will be worth it in the end!

Dean took a couple days off work to have a solid 3 days to tackle the cabinets.  He didn't get as far as he thought he would (typical remodel story, right?!).  To be fair, I waited until he had already started ripping out old cabinets to say "oh, and I want these outlets and outlet covers to be white (not to mention GFCI and up to code)".  That ended up taking half a day. So I'll take the blame there!

Life got busy after that work weekend and we've been living with it like this for a past few weeks.  We were waiting for our trip down to Mesa for a cousin's wedding so we could run to nearby IKEA for the countertops and the island cabinets.

My five fish. They take after their Dad.

How I keep Loretta quiet at 7am in a hotel room so the other kids can sleep in.

We had a fun and relaxing quick weekend down in the valley of the sun.  The wedding was lovely, the kids swam for hours in the hotel pool both Saturday night and Sunday morning, AND I got Ikea drawer bases in the finish I wanted despite them being out of stock in every other cabinet base and every other configuration.

Now that we have the 3.4 hundred IKEA boxes in our garage, we can move forward!
Seriously, guys, does date night get any better than pulling out the screw drivers and umpteen flat boxes and saying "lets do this"!  Assembly is the biggest pain, but I like their prices and product, so I'll take it!

If you are looking for me this coming week, I'll be sitting on the living room floor surrounded by boxes.
Wish us speedy luck; I can't wait to have a sink again AND I can't wait to show you the final result!

No, I don't really think I'm lucky.

Last week, I took Aubrey out of school early to come get her hair cut with me.  I thought it would be a fun mom-and-daughter date, and I was right.  I was able to soak her in and give her my undivided attention the whole time we were out and about, which she loved.

While I was sitting in the salon, wrapped in a black cape and answering the usual questions of 'how many kids do you have', 'are you going to have any more', and 'do you stay home', I got a comment that I've heard a couple times before: "you are so lucky to get to stay home with your kids!"

I've been thinking about that.  

Yes, I am 'lucky' if you like that term.  I feel very fortunate and blessed to have a hard working husband who can provide for us, as well as a partner that fully supports me as a stay-at-home mom. I saw a sign in a friend's house recently that read "Begin each day with a grateful heart".  I love that! So yes, I am very grateful I get to be the one to raise my kids.  With seven beautiful children, I have so much to be thankful for each and every day.

But... At the same time, I am not 'lucky' to be a stay-at-home mom. It takes work. It was our (Dean's and my) choice; a choice that took, and still takes, sacrifices on our part to make happen. 

We make our kids our priority. 

That means we don't have as much money to spend on holidays, birthday parties, and vacations.  It means that we live in a modest small home and drive older cars.  It means that our kids wear hand-me-downs and that our scarred furniture continues to serve us well.  It means that I wear old and faded jeans rather than the latest fashions. It means my days are filled with oft mundane tasks of laundry, sweeping, and mopping.

But more importantly, it means that I get to be the one to kiss owies and welcome the kids home from school!  I get to watch the baby take his first steps and I get to read stories to the kids!  I get to choose how to discipline and I get to instill the values we find important.  I get to reap the rewards of raising our children!

And I love it!  Like I told the hairstylist, it's exactly what I want to be doing.

Lucky or not, I made a choice, and it continues to be a choice that I find worth the sacrifices

Because I have to include a picture. 

And because I photograph these kids the least 

since it's their teachers and not me that gets to enjoy them during the week day.