Do You Ever Get That Sinking Feeling?

To celebrate Father's Day today we drove an hour north to Moraine State Park, where a large man-made lake adds some recreational possibilities to a massive wetland. Our plan was to go on a group kayaking trip organized by Venture Outdoors. It was a humid, hottish, overcast day, with some sun breaks. Casey worried a lot in the car on the way up that the boat wouldn't be safe, and that something bad would happen that would land her unceremoniously in the water. She also asked about sharks and other creatures that might attack her. We reassured her that she would be safe. Over and over and over again.

We met the group, put on our sunscreen, got on our life jackets and then had our life jackets checked by the group leaders. I pushed out into the water in a single kayak, and Josh got into a tandem kayak with three seats: One for him in the back, one for Casey in the middle, and one for Jacob up front. Suddenly, we were seaborn; Jacob trailed his hands in the water and looked over at me. Shouting at the top of his lungs, he declared: "Mom, it's so peaceful." As Josh and the kids passed in front of me I noticed that the back of their kayak looked like it was laying very low in the water.

Then Casey beamed from her middle seat: "I'm not scared anymore mom! I'm not scared!" We saw a blue heron glide across the lake. We saw lily pads in bloom. We saw dragon flies and people fishing. We stopped after about 10 minutes and listened to one of the park rangers tell us a few facts about wetlands; as she finished her spiel I paddled after her and asked her how the State Park wetlands have been affected by all the natural gas drilling in PA (called fracking) and she said, "That's a good question, I'm not really allowed to talk about it." I paddled after her with a few more questions, and then I looked behind me and I realized I couldn't see the rest of my family!

With some squinting and craning I realized that behind me about 200 yards, I could see Josh's kayak. It was the only one with three people in it. Up ahead I could see our next destination: three dead trees near the far shore. I thought about paddling ahead, but instead I decided to wait for Josh. I looked around at the beauty and I felt all of the stress melt out of my body. I thought about how my parents liked to go sailing when I was a teenager and how much I hated that sailboat, and how ungrateful I was, and how much I liked the feeling now, of being on the water, almost in the water. I turned my boat around again and I saw that Josh and the kids were heading back to the beach.

What was wrong?

As I started to paddle towards them one of the group members said, "Your family's boat is leaking! They are headed back to shore."

I pointed my kayak towards the beach and tried to paddle quickly. I imagined myself suddenly in a spy thriller, and tried to go as fast as I could. I soon could see both of my children and Josh, safe, on a small dock, ecstatic. Jacob cried out: "Mom, our boat got a hole in it. We were sinking!" Casey seemed very happy. "And Mom, I sneaked into our snack bag and got a snack!" She was eating sliced pears from a small tupperware container. At first I was a bit stunned that our Father's Day Eco Tour was over, since there weren't anymore seaworthy tandem kayaks, but Josh pulled me aside and confessed that right before the trip leaders noticed how much water his boat was taking on that Casey had declared that she was ready to pack it in.

The Venture Outdoor leaders were very apologetic, and offered to give us trip credits for another venture. We piled everyone back in the car and headed for Amon's birthday party back in the city. We drove the back roads through Zelienople to avoid a bad traffic jam on 79, and Jacob and Casey played a funny role playing game in which Jacob was the dad and Casey's lovey was the baby.

After Amon's birthday party I gave Casey a bath and put her to bed. Josh played a few games of Mario Cart with Jacob and then went to see the movie The Green Lantern with some of his pals. Jacob and I decided to play a board game. I don't think they make these commercials any more, but if you are old enough to remember the tag line "You sunk my battleship," then you can appreciate the delicious irony that Jacob and I ended our day, after the Father's Day kayaking near-sinking almost-disaster, with a game of old school Battleship. Jacob won, though just barely, and with some pretty big hints. And we both agreed: it had been a great Father's Day!