Upstate New York

Jesse was going to go to New York to revisit one of the programs there so I thought it would be fun to tag along. The older two girls did not agree so they stayed with friends so that they did not have to miss school.
Jesse was gone for two days so the little punks and I just hung out. It was seriously SO beautiful! I love fall.





Long story about this kayaking experience. I will try to keep it short.
So.. little ones wanted to go in the boats and talked me into it. We were told by our friend that there was a river down the road he would drop us off and pick us back up in forty minutes. Also the water would be so shallow like knee deep that the kids would be fine with us.
So we get going about 6 pm but the water is so shallow in spots that Jesse and I have to get out and pull the kayaks and kids about ten times. I weigh less and could make it over more shallow areas than Jesse so I got up ahead of him. And once I noticed the sun setting I went into panic mode and got way ahead of him. Bad idea. I figured after an hour in the water that we were getting close to the end and he and Ani would just meet us.
Well, it got REALLY dark like pitch black and I could not see anything in front of me so I decided to wait for them. After they caught up we decided to take a left and of course bad idea. We were in a crazy maze of turnoffs and ponds. Remember- we are in the dark! We could not find our way back out. At this point I was almost at my breaking point, I had sang enough "row row row your boat" and "if your happy and you know it" that I was going to scream. Actually I wanted to cry. My hands had blisters, my neck back and shoulders were so sore, we were lost in the dark with our two little ones and I did not want to get out and walk, I did not want to paddle, okay you get the point, I was DONE.
About that time we saw lights and a road, decided to paddle over there and get out and call our friend and have him find us. Two minutes into it we heard him yelling for us and he guided us out. Thank YOu Marshall you saved us! Or was this your fault to begin with? I cant remember.
We made it back, only took us two and a half hours. On our way home Ani told me "Mom, sorry for getting you into this". That made me realize that we had a blast and I would do it again. Maybe next time during the day.