Choose to Chance the Rapids, Dare To Dance the Tides

One of the greatest things about living in Northern Virginia is that we are literally 90 minutes from a million different things to do, see and experience.  We have the incredible monuments and museums of DC, the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, the mountains near Skyline Drive, the Chesapeake Bay, the caverns of Luray, dozens and dozens of wineries, Gettysburg, Lake Anna AND the Shenandoah River just to name a few. 

Our family spends lots of  time at each of these special places each year but one place in particular is just 'good ole fashion fun'.  For the second consecutive year Michelle has organized a rafting/tubing trip down the Shenandoah River for her au pair cluster, our family and friends.  Using the Front Royal Canoe Company as our outfitter and home base, we make the 50-minute trek from Haymarket as a big long caravan (six cars this time).  Using rafts and tubes, we took 27 people down the river in a lazy, fun-filled 4-hour 'journey'.  It had been raining all morning and poured as we headed West.  In fact, the FRCC crew suggested that it would rain all day.  As it turned out, the moment we got in the water the skies cleared up and it was about 84 and completely sunny during our entire voyage.  We laughed, drank, swam, floated, joked and had a great time all afternoon.  Riley and Brock, now veterans of the river, even helped navigate the sections where the water level was low. 

Sunburnt and tired, we decided to BBQ with our neighbors and friends (The Smiths) while the kids got out their last possible ounce of energy for the day.  Michelle did an amazing job planning the trip and it's neat to see how her au pair cluster just loves her to death.  These girls have traveled around the world to be here in Northern Virginia and it's obvious how much Michelle's nurturing and genuine fondness means to them.  There were moments today when I looked around at my wife, my kids, and lots of friends having a great Sunday together and there's just nowhere else I would possibly want to be.

The weekend overall was a lot of fun, Fridays are usually pretty tame since the week takes its toll.  We made a fire on the deck and stayed out late in the night just drinking wine and laughing with friends.  Saturday was spent fixing fence posts/gates (me) and cleaning the house (Mich).  We went out to the Barrel Oak Winery Saturday night and then out to dinner with friends.  Whew, is tomorrow really Monday??