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Max and Josie climbed out of the tent, each scanning the area outside before Max grabbed at Josie, “There! Look!” He pointed at the lake, jumping up and down. Josie turned to see Grandpa, on the lake, paddling in a canoe toward their campsite.
“Amazing!” cheered Max.
“Grandpa!” Josie giggled.
Grandpa laughed, and it echoed on the lake water. “Come on out, and we’ll have some fun!” he cried. The kids cheered and ran towards the lake edge.
Grandma made sure to grab her sketchbook and zip up the tent before following the group. By the time she got to the lake, Grandpa was zipping up the kids’ life vests.
“Now kids,” Grandpa was saying, “This canoe will only hold three people, so Grandma and I will take turns with you. Make sure to keep your life vests on and don’t rock the boat.”
As Grandpa plopped the kids into the canoe, he asked, “Did you two put on some sunscreen? The reflection of the sun off the water can cause you to burn a little faster.”
“I guess we forgot. We’ve been working in the shade all morning and didn’t think about sunscreen,” said Max.
Josie jumped out of the canoe and started running toward the tent, “I have some in my backpack,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll be right back!”
“She has everything in her backpack,” laughed Max. “I don’t know how she carries it.”
In no time at all, Josie was back with the sunscreen, and they were ready to go.
Grandpa pushed the canoe away from shore, before stepping in and sitting down in the very back. He started to paddle toward the northside of the lake. He worked to make sure to keep them balanced as Max leaned out of the canoe to wave enthusiastically at Grandma. As they got farther out on the lake, Grandpa pulled out some additional paddles and taught them how to paddle. After struggling to coordinate their paddling and zig zagging across the lake, Max and Josie managed to figure out the timing. They were then able to control the canoe.
After they had paddled around the lake for a bit, Grandpa took over the paddling and returned to the shore to switch places with Grandma.
Grandpa helped Grandma by holding onto her hand as she stepped into the canoe and sat down.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Grandma said.
“Have fun!” Grandpa called, pushing the canoe father out into the lake. “I’m going to wander down the shoreline and take some pictures. I’ll keep an eye out for you!”
Grandma paddled out but kept closer to the shore than Grandpa had.
She hadn’t paddled long before Josie cried, “What is that? It’s huge!”
“Where?” asked Max, looking around wildly, arms coming up to protect his head.
“There!” Josie pointed into the sky, tracking a large blue bird with her finger.
“Whoa, kiddos, calm down!” said Grandma, as she steadied the canoe as it rocked wildly from side to side. She looked up at the bird, “That’s a great blue heron. They’re pretty big and look intimidating, but he won’t get too close to us.”
The heron glided down to the edge of the lake, landing in the shallows. It began preening its feathers and Grandma brought the canoe a little closer.
“It’s not so big on the ground,” Max observed, leaning over the side of the canoe to get a better look at the bird.
Grandma laughed, “No, it’s not very big compared to what it looks like when flying. Great Blue Herons have a wingspan of about six feet. That’s about how tall your Grandpa is. And they’re about three to four and half feet tall.”
“Wow, Max,” Josie said, “That’s about how tall we are.”
Max giggled, “Imagine what we would look like if our arms were as long as Grandpa is tall. We’d look really silly.”
Their laughter rang out across the lake as they turned and started to paddle back to the camp.
As they got closer, Grandma reminded them, “Don’t forget to be careful as you stand up to get out of the canoe. We don’t want to tip over.”
As they pulled up to the shore, Grandma leaned to the side as Max stood up to jump out of the canoe. He landed safely in the shallows and turned to hold on to the edge of the canoe. Max helped keep the canoe steady as Josie stood up and stepped out of the boat. She slipped a little in the shallows, and Max let go of the boat in order to grab onto Josie to keep her from falling over. Unfortunately, that was exactly when Grandma decided to stand up and get out of the canoe.
“Ahh!” cried Grandma, as she overbalanced and tipped the canoe away from the shore. She fell into the water with a splash as Max and Josie tried, and failed, to grab a hold of the canoe and Grandma.
“Grandma!” they cried, as she re-emerged from the shallow water, hair plastered to her face.
“Are you okay?” asked Josie.
“I’m so sorry!” shouted Max. “I only let go for like two seconds.”
Grandma spluttered and wiped the water from her face before she started to laugh. “Kids, it’s okay! It was an accident, and canoes are very easy to turn over. That’s why we wear life jackets.” She stood carefully and began to squeeze the water out of her clothes just as Grandpa came jogging up the shore.
He helped the kids pull the canoe out of the water before taking a look at his wet wife. “Hey! I thought we were going swimming tomorrow!” He teased with a smile.
As the kids laughed, Grandma splashed some water at them. “Well, the water just looked so inviting I had to get in. Why don’t you join me?” she called as she ran toward them and tried to pull them into the lake.
Grandpa and the kids shrieked with laughter and ran from the edge of the lake to avoid being pulled in. When Grandma finally got out of the lake, Grandpa pulled Grandma in for a loose hug. “Let’s go up to camp, and you can change into some dry clothes while I will start dinner.”
“Sounds good to me,” smiled Grandma as she started to walk to camp, leaving them to bring the canoe back.