Day 4 started with hearty breakfast burritos and a ton of bargaining to get Charlie to eat them followed by running around camp with a bubble wrap cape! See what I mean about action?!
Oh and some brief Daddy cuddles.
It was common for groups to hike up to the jumping rock then get on a floaty and float down the rapids back to camp. We decided we were going to wait to do this until after lunch since we were in charge of lunch!
We made meatball sandwiches!
After everything was cleaned up we dipped in the water so we would stay cool as we hiked up river to float down the rapids.
We hiked up with Brayden, Justin, and Hannah. Once it was time to jump in the water, Charlie was freaking out. Just as Charlie had seemed to calm down on the float with Max, Max realized that Brayden wasn't really able to control his float very well. I was already going down river as Max yelled something to me that I thought was "do you think you can pull over?" I wasn't sure that was what he said and I was already in the current as Max and Charlie and Brayden were still in the back-eddy. So here I am already going down river, unsure of what Max needed. When I hit the first rapids (nothing big) I started to really worry for Charlie. I kept looking back to see if they were coming down river and I couldn't see them. I was thinking that maybe they had gotten out of the water and hiked back. Lisa was at the end ready to take pictures. I pull out of the river and watched for Max, Charlie, and Brayden, soon enough we saw them coming down.
As they got closer we could hear Charlie screaming. It was so sad.
Apparently he was just scared and didn't want to get wet. I grabbed Charlie as soon as I could reach him, he was shivering. So I took off his life jacket and cuddled with him. What had happened was that once Charlie and Max got all situated, Max realized that Brayden was having a really hard time getting out of the Eddy and Max was having a hard time helping him with Charlie on his lap. Max ended up making it work and they were all able to float down the river. It was sad that Charlie was so traumatized. I hope he feels more confident in the water soon.
It was then dinner time with Chili dogs.
After dinner and a little sand play, we took our tired boy to bed.
Once Charlie was asleep, we went to enjoy some more sand bowling.
The judges.
After sand bowling, we laid out under the stars and watched the beginning of the meteor shower, we were only able to stay awake for so long before going to bed but we still saw quite a few shooting stars.
We wanted to go for a hike to the flag at some point during our trip but we weren't sure when it would happen. We needed to go in the morning before it got hot but we were in charge of breakfast the following morning. Brent kindly volunteered to start our breakfast so we could go on a hike. Lisa woke us up nice and early and we quickly got ready and left for the hike to the flag. I had never hiked there because the first year I tried, (11 years ago) I had just eaten a tuna sandwich and ended up feeling miserably sick. The other year we were on this river I was really pregnant so I wasn't supposed to attempt it. Anyway, we wanted to see if Charlie could make it to the flag and we would both get there for our first time. It's a pretty big hike. Just looking at the flag on top of the mountain (and I couldn't really see it) we weren't sure that we would make it.
We took lots of breaks and just followed Charlie's pace.
We were just getting started and already pretty high up.
We were checking out the cool train bridge below.
This is how Charlie look one of his breaks.
When Charlie was getting more tired, he kept going because Lisa kept saying she was going to race him to get to me. Charlie always wants to win.
The path here is pretty narrow with a steep decline on the left.
It was very beautiful to be there as the sun was rising.
Getting closer but we still had to go to the top of that rock.
More breaks!
Looking toward the goal...well at least Max is, I'm not sure what Charlie's looking at.
There we go.
Almost there!
And we almost made it, see the flag?..
It was a happy moment but we really missed Miles, it was crazy how incomplete our family felt without him., Even Charlie kept asking about him and saying that he missed him. I think Miles still has at least 2 years before he will come with us.
Way up high! I swear it was higher than we could even capture in pictures.
Charlie was the first to touch the flag. and oh yeah, it's on a sheer cliff. Kind of scary.
My boys and their big muscles!
/We did it!
We were both so proud of Charlie. We sat at the top and ate snacks and threw rocks over the cliff to listen how long it took before they hit the ground.
And then we started the journey down.
We got back sooner than expected and we were able to help with the breakfast that Brent had already started.
Oh there is his dinosaur henna tattoo...also Charlie was constantly singing Row row row your boat and the frownie face song. I believe we was singing the frownie face song with this cantaloupe.
This is what his face looks like during camping!
We stayed around camp all morning, relaxing after our hike. Charlie fell asleep in Max's arms then napped on this air mattress for quite awhile while we played Phase 10 with Brent and Lisa.
Max eventually went up to float down the river with Brent, Brayden and August. I stayed back at camp with Charlie cleaning up our tent in preparation for leaving in the morning.
That evening we didn't stay up too late since we wanted to wake up early and get packing.
In the morning it was time to pack up camp. The boats were loaded and we were finally on the river for our last day of rafting!
Heading out on the river, that cliff, in the top middle of the picture is where the flag is that we hiked to.
Charlie seemed a little more brave and liked to be at the front of the boat.
Not long after we got on the river there was some very strong wind that was going against the river current so it made rowing very challenging. It ended up taking us a lot longer to get down river but Max just used his Burly muscles and amazing rowing and river navigating skills to keep us going.
I got to row for a little bit, I mean a very little bit. I felt more coordinated than the very first time I rowed a boat but seriously, after about 3-4 strokes my shoulders were dead! I really enjoyed max spewing out his knowledge of navigating the river. SO many things I've never even thought of that he has to pay attention to to get the most effective stroke. Anyway, it made me excited that Charlie gets to grow up practicing and learning the ways of the river.
And we had a long stretch of calm water, minus the wind that was trying to push us upriver. So Charlie just curled up next to me and fell asleep.
He has fallen asleep in many weird places including, a Ferris Wheel, a hike up Multnomah Falls, FAO Schwartz toy store in New York, and a candy factory. It made us laugh.
Charlie woke up before we got to the bigger rapids. we were the last boat to go through the rapids. Justin's boat hit a rock and tipped over at one point, so that was exciting. Max went through the rapids very safely so we didn't fly out, thank goodness! The last big rapid is called boxcar. We went through with barely getting wet and everyone in the family was waiting at the end of boxcar and cheering for Charlie as he went through it. This made him so happy! I was a little bummed that there were not photographers at the big rapids, they are always there! Then I could have ordered a photo for Charlie's first rafting trip and I would have been interested to see his expressions through the rapids because I was paying more attention to the boat and water all while holding tight to him. Anyway, After the last big rapid Charlie and I went to the front of the boat while we were in the little wave rapids, somehow Max hit one just right and a wave of water came over us. Charlie was mad. It was really cold, especially with the wind! He forgave us quickly though. Then Charlie kept saying he had to poop so we pulled out the froggy potty for him to sit on in the front of the boat. We were done with big rapids but it turned out that there was another large-ish wave coming so I held down charlie with my arms and legs but then I flew a couple inches into the air. All was fine but we laughed about it for awhile. Shortly after that we, pulled into our take-out location. We immediately started taking the boats apart and taking the gear up. We were able to change into dry clothes. I watched the boys run around like mad in the grass. When the gear was all loaded up, we got back into the cars, we went to the Oasis restaurant to enjoy dinner and a milkshake. A milkshake always sounds great after a week of rafting and drinking hot water. We enjoyed our food and Charlie downed a ton of milkshake only to throw it up moments later. Sorry to those sharing our table :) He was completely fine but it smelled gross and a perfectly delicious milkshake was wasted. After that, we got in the car again to head back to Portland. After about an hour, I became the driver of that 15 passenger van! It was dark and rainy and I haven't driven a bus in years so I started a little slow but then I got the hang of it and we made it home safely! It was after midnight so we just grabbed our water bags and headed home. Lisa, Brayden and Mitch came with us. We got Charlie to sleep, showered, and then went to bed around 2. The following day was busy too with the bubble run and cleaning up (not that we even helped much...sorry) And we finally got reunited with our little Miles in the afternoon who wasn't too excited to see us and only wanted grandma for a while.
This is just so EPIC. That hike was crazy! So cool you have those photos to remember it by! this whole thing makes me want to take a week long rafting trip... and I've never wanted to do that before now! haha
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