Spring Clearwater Float

Every spring a group of friends get together float the Clearwater river in late April. We have been doing this for almost 10 years. It is a great way to shake off the winter and gear up for summer.  

Sondra was pysched to dust of her raft, Mike was pysched to be kicking back drinking beer.

 This was the first year with both kids together in the boat.

 There was still a bit of ice and snow along the river but we had great weather.

Wyatt and Thea sharing a stawberry on the river.

Kids had a blast running around on the sandbar where we camped.

I swear they did this on their own, we did not make the kids carry the beer!

There is also a long running tradition of playing the stick game. To play the stick game you place a stick on your chin and spin in circles while looking up at the stick and counting to ten.  Then you have to drop the stick on the ground and attempt to jump over the stick. Somehow Jeff and I have avoided this game all these years but this year we were discovered and we had to play.

 Jeff didn't make it to the part where you are supposed jump over the stick :)

This was Sondra and Lori's first Clearwater trip and first exposure to the stick game but they didn't hesitate to give it a try and they both did much better than Jeff!  No pictures of my performance but there are videos on facebook :)

 The supportive crowd.

 The boys did great on the first day of floating. The second was not quite as much fun, it was windy and everyone was tired. Sam cried for aout 30 minutes before falling asleep.

Wyatt took a little snooze as well.

Wyatt also took a dip in the river right as we got to the take out at the end of the trip. We got him out of the water really fast but he was soaked and not happy. He recovered pretty well and after he was warm and dry he said he had a great time on the trip.