We spent 3 day canoeing down the Delaware river as a family.
We canoed from Milford to the Delaware Water Gap, that is 34 miles!
It was lots of fun and no one fell in! Asher did eventually lose his sand shovel after insisting on dragging it in the water for a long time. After that he would get really upset when anything else went in the water, because he knew it may not be coming back. Eli learned that lesson 2 years ago too when he dropped a little truck in the water. The river was higher and faster than previous years. I was always surprised at how far we had gone.
We did bring a few things to keep the kids entertained.
But they were pretty good anyway.
We ran into a Thunderstorm on the second day. We were canoeing down the river when it hit. We decided to pull off to the side and wait it out on the shore, so we looked for somewhere we could pull over easily, we didn't find anything right away(just bushes and tall weed/poison ivy) so we went a little ways ahead and saw a big open lawn area. We went toward that then realized there was a cabin there (the only real building we passed that day. It was the Rod and Gun club, and there was a nice man staying there with his 12 year old daughter and her friend. When they saw us pull up just as the lightning started they invited us in to wait out the storm. We are very thankful for the kindness of those strangers, I'm not sure how the boys would have reacted to sitting under the tent tarp in the woods with Thunder and lightning all around us.
Eli seemed to have a pretty good time overall, although he did not like it when it rained and we had to stay in the tent for a little while, but he did like sleeping in his sleeping bag. He also liked swimming in the river all by himself with his life jacket on, and trying his hand at fishing and casting with his little fishing pole. He also enjoyed dragging his hands in the water and experimenting with the shapes of the "wakes" he could make. I think his least favorite part by far was getting his Sunscreen on (he screams the whole time).
I'm not sure Asher liked having to wear his life jacket for long periods of time again this year, but he sure liked waking up in the tent each morning. He also liked all the snacks he got along the way and dragging his hands and even his feet on the water. He also like peeing in the woods. I brought 8 dry diaper and still had 6 at the end of the trip.
I liked spending time with my family and the fact that Dan was not stressed out or answering phone calls all day. I also enjoyed being surrounded by the river and the beautiful mountains and trees. My lease favorite part was the mosquitoes at the camp sites (not terrible but annoying) and trying to keep the kids from touching the poison Ivy (fortunately no one got it!).
Dan enjoyed taking a few days off and listening to the quiet river, building and cooking over fires, swimming, and trying his hand at fishing. He said he liked knowing that we had 3 days to play (instead of 2 like last year). Loading the canoe and having to go "hiking" to get fire wood were 2 of his least favorite tasks. It was also harder for him to paddle & steer the boat when the kids dragged their hands and feet, but he tried not to complain because they were having such a good time.
Breakfast time.
We brought plenty of yummy food that we all enjoyed!
If anyone want to come with us let us know, we are planning another trip in August.
We canoed from Milford to the Delaware Water Gap, that is 34 miles!
It was lots of fun and no one fell in! Asher did eventually lose his sand shovel after insisting on dragging it in the water for a long time. After that he would get really upset when anything else went in the water, because he knew it may not be coming back. Eli learned that lesson 2 years ago too when he dropped a little truck in the water. The river was higher and faster than previous years. I was always surprised at how far we had gone.
We did bring a few things to keep the kids entertained.But they were pretty good anyway.
We ran into a Thunderstorm on the second day. We were canoeing down the river when it hit. We decided to pull off to the side and wait it out on the shore, so we looked for somewhere we could pull over easily, we didn't find anything right away(just bushes and tall weed/poison ivy) so we went a little ways ahead and saw a big open lawn area. We went toward that then realized there was a cabin there (the only real building we passed that day. It was the Rod and Gun club, and there was a nice man staying there with his 12 year old daughter and her friend. When they saw us pull up just as the lightning started they invited us in to wait out the storm. We are very thankful for the kindness of those strangers, I'm not sure how the boys would have reacted to sitting under the tent tarp in the woods with Thunder and lightning all around us.
Eli seemed to have a pretty good time overall, although he did not like it when it rained and we had to stay in the tent for a little while, but he did like sleeping in his sleeping bag. He also liked swimming in the river all by himself with his life jacket on, and trying his hand at fishing and casting with his little fishing pole. He also enjoyed dragging his hands in the water and experimenting with the shapes of the "wakes" he could make. I think his least favorite part by far was getting his Sunscreen on (he screams the whole time).
I'm not sure Asher liked having to wear his life jacket for long periods of time again this year, but he sure liked waking up in the tent each morning. He also liked all the snacks he got along the way and dragging his hands and even his feet on the water. He also like peeing in the woods. I brought 8 dry diaper and still had 6 at the end of the trip.
I liked spending time with my family and the fact that Dan was not stressed out or answering phone calls all day. I also enjoyed being surrounded by the river and the beautiful mountains and trees. My lease favorite part was the mosquitoes at the camp sites (not terrible but annoying) and trying to keep the kids from touching the poison Ivy (fortunately no one got it!).
Dan enjoyed taking a few days off and listening to the quiet river, building and cooking over fires, swimming, and trying his hand at fishing. He said he liked knowing that we had 3 days to play (instead of 2 like last year). Loading the canoe and having to go "hiking" to get fire wood were 2 of his least favorite tasks. It was also harder for him to paddle & steer the boat when the kids dragged their hands and feet, but he tried not to complain because they were having such a good time.
Breakfast time.We brought plenty of yummy food that we all enjoyed!
If anyone want to come with us let us know, we are planning another trip in August.
