Amazing

Monday morning I had a 9am dental cleaning & was done by 9:45. I talked to Ray on my drive home & found out we were going on an impromptu canoeing trip down the Weeki Wachee River! I raced inside to change & then we were out the door. We met up with Ed, Sarah & family for the 5.5 mile canoe trip.

Ray has gone scuba diving here numerous times (including night diving) but I don't recall ever going to this river before. The water is amazingly blue & clear! We saw lots of fish, turtles & manatees. There were also wonderful "jumping trees" of which Ray, Eddie & Magnus took advantage.












While on the river the temperature began to dive & the wind really picked up. By the end it was into the 50's (much cooler with the wind chill!) & the 15-minute wait for the van to pick us up felt a bit excruciating. The heat inside that van felt wonderful!



There was a goodbye dinner already planned for Gabe & Jen & their family & we realized that it didn't make any sense for us to drive all the way home only to turn right back around & go to the dinner. So we went to dinner in all our grungy bathing suit glory. Thankfully, it was at her parents home with a handful of close friends.



Addison loves to take photos & instruct people on posing. Sarah & I were only following her instructions! (And, lest anyone think I'd post a "bad" photo, Sarah gave me permission to post these before I could even ask her)




After dinner our night wasn't over; Ray has an old college friend who owns a gas station out in the area we were at so we stopped by to say a quick hello. By the time we made it home that night it was around 10:00. When I left the house that morning at 8:45 for my dentist appointment I didn't think I'd be gone for 13 (fun!) hours! The kids were absolutely exhausted, too. Kate stumbled inside & crawled into her little play tent (which was already piled with blankets & her pillow) & fell right to sleep.