Hello, blog world. Sorry for my slacking. To say I've been crazy busy lately is an understatement. Nothing like a (well-deserved) video game night for the hubby (no tv for me!) to get me back on track.
This will probably border on the most uninspiring post ever, but I had saved this as a draft some time ago and thought I might as well finish it. I have to go in order. Always. It's a disease.
I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a float trip down the Illinois River with my hubby and some great people from the college. (Work trip for him...fun for me!) It's been years since I've been on such a trip and I must say, it was great!
If you use your imagination, you can see the river in the distance in the above pic. Sorry for the pure lack of exciting photography. On this particular trip, I was busy having fun and snapped a couple of pics on my way to get in the van on our way home.
Our cabin. Home of the most uncomfortable beds known to man and a swarm of killer bees.
In a nutshell...
Highlights:
~ Getting to meet (and hang out with) an amazing group of college students. I loved getting to know all of them better. As I've said before, it's been a long time since I've gotten to bond with a group of people on in a trip setting and I've really missed this.
~ some R&R. We had been REALLY busy with the responsibilities of the looming school year, Ava's birthday, and just the general day to day. It was nice to get away for a bit.
~ Of course, hanging out with Brian is always a highlight. We got to share a canoe for our 12 miles down the river. It was great quality time. Always a plus. This should probably count as another entry, but we did not tip our canoe once. Yeah, that's right...we have awesome teamwork. (Perhaps we could compete in Amazing Race together after all!?!)
~The beautiful scenery. This was when I most wanted my camera...however, that would have been a terrible idea because the only camera I have right now is my phone, and I assure you that my phone should NOT be floating down the river. I forgot how breathtaking it all can be. I really enjoyed those little moments when it was just Brian and I in the middle of the river and it was so quiet. We would just quit paddling for a few minutes and sit in silence and take it all in. We saw a TON of fish.
~ I was also quite pleased that we didn't have to carry our canoe for miles at a time due to NO water. This has been the case with every other canoe trip I have been on (one of which I was 4 months pregnant...LOTS of fun!) There were only a couple of times we got stuck, and it was quite brief. All in all...a success!
Lowlights:
~ Did I mention those killer bees? Yeah, well one of them stung me. That's right. I haven't been stung by anything for a good 25 years and I'm not in a big hurry to have that happen again. In case you were wondering, it hurts. Super bad.
~ The beds were terrible...And the air conditioning worked. (I know the second seems like it should be in the "plus" column, but it was about 50 degrees in our room and I was on the top bunk (also interesting), so I was freezing and quite uncomfortable all night. The bed also made a terrible sound every time I moved and I was certain that it was going to break and I was going to plummet on top of the poor soul sleeping beneath me. Yeah. Not a good night at all.
~ At one point, I completely lost my husband because he went to help a "drunk guy find his cabin". There ended up being a lot more to this story and Brian ended up being very helpful to this man in need, but for awhile, I didn't know what was going on. Where did he go?!?
All in all, it was a great trip and I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to tag along. Thanks, guys!
~Crystal