August 2014 Big Camping Trip: Day 4

Day 4:

Tuesday, August 5th

Started off like every other day.

Greeting our feathered friends.

They were getting brave and coming right up to the camper now!

We decided we would go see what the 

"Build a Cardboard Boat"

event was all about.

So we trekked over to the Ranger Station 

about mid morning

and the object was to build a boat from cardboard

that you would then paddle

from one side of the pool to the other!

So the kids and I,

no daddy,

got to work.

We had lots of ideas.

But I over ruled and we went with a basic "boat".

Nothing fancy.

Flat bottom,

curved sides,

front curved up a tiny bit.

Done.

It fit Lex.

Perfect.

We cut

and duct taped.

Then decided that it was too plain.

We took it back to our campsite and

decided to embellish it a little.

I didn't get any "in design or in build"

pictures.

The only picture I have of the entire process,

is the final.

We turned our boat into a bird!

Complete with leaves for feathers.

 And as usual,

I had to take more than one picture to get all the kids in there!

Rico transported it back around the pond to the pool.

Meanwhile, 

I am feverishly texting daddy,

who is in class,

with the car...

to hurry up and come back.

I so wanted him to be there for the pool part!!

 The kids and I were so proud of what we had made!

Daddy showed up just in time!!

I handed him the camera

and put him in charge of pictures!

There were a couple of different heats.

Different age groups.

First up was Alexis.

The rules were 

that you could have a helper in the water incase you turned over,

but they were not to help you in any way other than that.

So, her big brothers jumped in to help.

(Any excuse to get in the pool, right?)

The oar was so big, 

little Ms. had a hard time handling it!

She eventually made it all the way across the pool.

Completely unassisted.

And back!

Technically we won that heat,

because we were the only ones who made it across unassisted.

Another boat was "pushed" along while it was being held upright,

because it would topple over if it hadn't been held up.  Haha.

A third boat didn't even make it to the middle of the pool.

The kids were disappointed but got over it.

The next heat was Rico and Jackson's age.

Rico is WAY more competitive than

Jackson.  

So Rico was our rower.

Jackson was the helper.

We won that heat without question.

Then Jackson got a go.

Then for some odd reason,

my entire family felt I should ride in it too!

I resisted.

I promise!

I told them it wouldn't hold me.

I told them I would mess it up...

They didn't care.

So what the heck?

I'll be crazy and see what happens.

HA!

Here are the pictures of what happened...

that I am willing to post online!

Attempt #2

And as my tail was hitting the bottom of the pool,

the still insisted that I attempt to row my way across.

Needless to say,

our awesome little boat,

did not survive to be displayed with the other winners the next night at the dance.