We had a fun, fun weekend with our Fields family last weekend in Columbia. Our temple is there, so we make a trip once a month or so, but usually only stay for 24 hours so we can be back in time for church Sunday morning (the Relief Society roll won't take itself!). Last month my sister's family, from GA, met us in Columbia so they could visit the temple and have my niece take Girl Scout cookie orders. She suggested another get-together this past weekend to celebrate another niece's birthday, her husband flying into Columbia from a visit to BYU, and the fastest delivery of the Girl Scout Cookies. Yes, it was the cookies that brought us together. (visit her blog post... so worth it.)
We all decided to stay an additional day to pack in all the fun, and it was a total blast to spend time together and do what we wanted to do with no time constraints!
Friday night we had an amazing night talking and laughing over my favorite local pizza place with my mom and sisters Megan and Brett.
Saturday morning Brett, Ben and I went out to the temple, then we headed out for a much-anticipated trip down the Saluda river to enjoy our recently AWESOME weather and test out the new addition to our family: Ben's new whitewater kayak!
The Saluda is an awesome river to run. It is a great combination of flat water and class 1 and 2 rapids (3's when the water is higher), lots of river boulders to practice turning and navigating around, beautiful scenery, and lot of people who enjoy tubing and fishing.
It has some great drop-in spots, and we decided to start from the first one we know of to the last one we know of. Almost 5 miles (5.6 mi. by road) down river... the longest run we've ever done. It took almost 2.5 hours, and my shoulders were killing me afterwards!
Ben practicing some playboat moves on one of the rapids:
Megan and Brett brought their kids to the Marionette Theater while we paddled, and met us at the end of the run to drive Ben back to his car at the beginning. (Ben wanted to go to the show, but I took a behind-the-scenes tour of that place in college and I find it so creepy!)
All the kids and my sisters met us at the boat landing at the end, and were waving and yelling "You made it! Congratulations!" as we pulled in. It felt like finishing a marathon, especially after being so tired, and was one of the sweetest memories of recent years.
All the kids and my sisters met us at the boat landing at the end, and were waving and yelling "You made it! Congratulations!" as we pulled in. It felt like finishing a marathon, especially after being so tired, and was one of the sweetest memories of recent years.
My sister made an awesome lady bug cake for our beautiful niece, Eliza-bug.
And she really enjoyed photographing it.
Eliza seemed to like the elephant t-shirt I made her!
We love you guys! Thanks for such a fun weekend!
I'll email you the pics of you two in the river when I get them loaded and all. It was a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love the shadow picture of the car with the kayaks on it.
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