Saturday: Canoeing, Park Day & Dancing
8am~ Despite the ungodly hour we were up at the night before after that late night scavenger hunt (and prank-pulling on the guys by a few of the girls!) we still had to get up early and leave for the canoeing/rental center by 8am-ish.
Before we went, we donned the new (first-ever-official!) CP! T-shirts we had received the night before and took groups photos in the morning sunlight.
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| Snazzy, no? :) Collee Plus! Dayton, Ohio Event group photo Left to Right: Rebekah, Bethany, Marie, Morgan, JD, Hattie, Brittany, Mac, Emily, Alex, Derek, Noah, Nate, India, Benjamin, Merry, Steven, Amanda, Marissa, Lisa, Atalie, Hannah (me), and Leah. courtesy Brittany Wellvang
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9:30am~ We arrive there, pay for our canoes & life vests, and team up into pairs of 3-a-person per canoe. I, lucky girl, got to canoe with two of my favorite people: Ben & Hattie! :D We made a good team, if I may say so myself. ;)
10ish~ The rental center helped us find vests and bundled us into their big 15-passenger vans, over to the launch site, four miles upstream. By 10:30am, I think everyone was on the water of the creek/river. It was funny watching everyone try to grab enough oars for themselves, steer the canoes into the water, and get in without tipping over! Of course, it's funny until...it's your turn. :) Ben, Hattie & I got in fine.
Did I mention that that was my first time canoeing? It was! :D I've kayaked before, but never canoed.
I loved it; a great first experience. And Ben and Hattie had done it before so I was in good hands all around. Ben took the rear/steering, Hattie the middle, and I at the bow/front. Let me tell you, canoeing really builds arms muscles! ;)
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| Our canoe is the red one all the way to the right, a three-seater. We were one of the first canoes to finish too, I believe. :) Picture by Steven. |
It was a gorgeous warm (but not hot), sunny day and the woods and surrounding areas around the creek were very pretty. I truly enjoyed this CP! activity. Kudos to whoever thought of it (the Sanders family most likely. :)
11am~ We all made it down the stream, four miles in total, with only one canoe capsizing. (I will leave those folks to anonymity. Everyone in that canoe was fine, just wet.) Thankfully, the creek was down in water capacity considerably, so the water wasn't too rough, fast or deep. :) I will look forward to trying tougher canoeing later, but in time. In time. ;)
12:30pm~ Merry, Alex, (who else? I can't remember.) went to the Waynesville grocer to pick up somethings for the picnic happening at one. That was fun too. :) The grocer reminded me of the old, old Kennie's Market we used to have in town here. Water, soda, chips, hot dogs, and...to the park!
1pm~ Park Time
Another wonderful way to spend some time hanging out and getting to know each other. :)
It took a while for everyone to get there, but eventually they did. We had a superb time eating lunch & talking and got to meet some new people too! We prayed and ate and swung in the swings, and hit balls around, played Frisbee (and Ultimate), blew bubbles, shot tiny squirt guns, laughed, talked , lounge din the grass, played four-square, explored the park, and generally had good, no GREAT time. :)
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| Group picture at the park! (Noah's photo) |
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| Nate, Mac, and Alex. Doing....what they do! :) (Brit's picture) |
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| Benjamin getting some serious air on those swings! (Noah's photo) |
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| JD & Brittany, rocking those crazy shades that got passed around all weekend! (Emily's psychedelic ones, left; and Brit's Gucci's, right.) |
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| ~ People under the pavilion. ~ (picture credit: Steven) |
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| Swingin'... (Photo credit: Steven) |
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| Leah and I, with the watermelons. Contemplating how to slice them and enjoying their big, roundedness? I guess! ;) Picture credit: Steven |
And believe it or not, the day wasn't over yet! I'll have to save telling about the rest of this day, and Sunday, until the next post.
I'll be back....
:)
We did have so much fun canoeing didn’t we? And you did a gorgeous job with paddling my dear! If you ever come down to Arkansas we’ll have to go kayaking – and I’m not above giving you a bribe to come down either! So here goes: If you come down to see me, you can have your choice of the pink or green kayak ; ) How’s that for a bribe?
ReplyDeleteSigh, this post made me melancholy : ( I miss all of you wonderful CPers so much!
Oh, now that...that, that's a REAL bribe, my dear!
ReplyDelete*ahhh* :D hehe!
green or pink? green or pink? ...hmmm. ;)
Writing it made me kind of melancholy too, but it's a sort of bitter, yet Sweet feeling. :) Happy to have gone, sad to leave, etc. :)