In the beginning...

Cutie pie Scarlett...she was about 18 months, I think...

there was life without kayaking. Then Dave turned 32 and our wonderful life of kayaking began! He decided to rent a kayak from IU. I was not all that thrilled. Sometimes it takes me some time to warm up to new things and activities. He rented a long, touring type kayak. We (meaning Dave) strapped it onto the van and headed for the lake. The above picture is Dave out on the lake.

Each child got a short turn in the kayak (it was a tandem) with Dave. In between turns, Elijah, Sebastian and Fiona were well equiped with nets and a big bucket for catching cool critters and bugs.

That little person barely sticking out of her life jacket is Haven! She was almost 3. She thought it was great fun! Her mom, on the other hand, was worried sick and just knew she was going to drown at any moment! She didn't, though (huh, obviously...) and it helped me loosen up a bit. :)

Here is Haven about ready to disembark. :) I took it out for a little ride at the very end of our excursion. It was a windy day on the lake. I couldn't quite figure out how not to let the wind take me out to "sea"...this was a smaller inlet area of the lake...the lake itself (Lake Monroe) is HUGE. I was unsure after this experience whether or not I liked the whole idea of a kayak and doing it as a family....but my attitude soon changed....