Yee Haw

We had the great escape today.

My folks kept the Keanut man, Holland headed off to girls camp for our church

and Byron, Greer, Reese and I motored on up to the mountains.

There were 32 of us in all, Cancer families, that got to go white water rafting

on the North Fork of the Payette.

Here are the girls getting ready to board the bus.

 We rode about an hour up before parking and putting in on the river.

 Lucky for us, we were paired with Kean's little buddy- Audrey's family.

If you remember, she is the same age as Kean, has the same type of Cancer

and also has Down syndrome.  Of course, both Audrey and Kean had to stay at home.

But we really like this family and

have an awful lot in common-- not just the cancer stuff.

 The picture above has Greer sitting in what's called the "bull" position...

at the front of the boat.  Even Reese took a turn there-- taking

a beating from the waves.

 The highest rapids we took on were a class 3.. in fact, Audrey's

13 year-old sister, Kendra was thrown from the boat on the second

to last run of rapids.  The look on her face was priceless but

she did everything she was supposed to do that they had taught

us before we even launched. 

 The day was perfect-- overcast, not too hot and the water wasn't

too cold.  We all got in and out and soaked by rapids and by

water fights with the other boats.

We stopped half way down, pulled off onto a beach and

had a gourmet lunch prepared by all the river guides.  It was

such a great day in so many ways-- mainly to escape all

the craziness in our lives and just get out on the water and have fun.

The other families were looking for and I'm sure ready for the same break.

It was just what we all needed.