Kayaking

One of the fun things about family reunions on David's side is the kayaking.
We took the nephews and one niece with us down part of the river. I really like this picture of Tanner and me, because you can really see how low we got riding the waves.
We also went upriver, to a run with class II and class III rapids. Here is a class III rapid. (This picture is from 2008--we didn't take a waterproof camera with us this summer.)
And here it is again (also from a 2008 photo).
This is not where I capsized. I capsized on another (also class III) rapid.

I was going down a narrow shoot when I fell in the river. Being the calm person that I am, I reached for my oar. In doing so, I missed my brother-in-law, Aaron, reaching for me. As I came up, I hit the bottom of his kayak and felt my sunglasses sliding off my face. I came up again, and this time grabbed onto another brother-in-law, Steve's, kayak and quickly lifted my legs up to avoid rocks as we continued through the rapids, me holding onto the front of Steve's kayak. (I'm sure I threw off his steering ability with additional weight and drag.)

Once we got to a calmer point in the rapid, I hopped in Steve's kayak and rode out the rest. Miriam (my sister-in-law) probably had the hardest task of riding through the rapid while holding onto a second kayak, which limited her ability to steer. Once through the rapid, I got my kayak back, and we finished out the run.

Here's the waterfall at the end. (Again, this picture is from 2008.)
Only 2 of us made it through the falls without getting our kayaks full of water. I was one. And, of the 4 of us who capsized, mine was the most spectacular. So, it was a good run.