The Black River

August 7th-8th, 2010

The Schaeffer family invited us to the Black River for a weekend of riding and river fun. We stayed on private property right on the river in Lesterville. None of us knew the owner of the property; he was a friend-of-a-friend. Shortly after arriving, we met him and a bunch of other really good people.

Julie and Charlie loaded their 1981 RV with all four kids, 6 bicycles, and a trailer pulling a dune buggy. We had Eric's work truck and hauled 4 motorcycles. None of the trailer lights worked-or when they worked, they didn't quite work the way they should (the RV's left blinker would be on, and the trailers right blinker would be on at the same time). Luckily, there were no mishaps or tickets. We all did run a VERY red light, but even that turned out okay. Thank God.

Most of the people staying at this property were there riding ATVs. It was pretty nice, they would come up to our camp and get lessons in riding dirt bikes, and in turn, they gave us all a lift on their ATVs to cross the river. The weekend was full of firsts for our girls: riding on ATVs across the river, riding in the back of a pickup truck, and going on rides with Charlie on his dirt bike. My girls lived like real country folk for a couple of days.

Audrey is such a tomboy. The very first thing she did after we had our camp set up was get all of her gear on and get on her motorcycle. Thanks to Eric, she has all of the proper equipment and was as safe as possible on those steep, gravel laden roads. Charlie would take her aside and give her instructions. He had her doing laps one way over and over. Then he would have her switch directions so that she practiced turning different ways and learning how to maneuver her bike better. When she wasn't in the river, she was on that bike. I loved seeing her like this-so focused and happy.

Unfortunately, due to our EARLY morning departure, some things were forgotten at home-like the little electric motorcycle that Mark (the Shaeffer's 3 year old son) rides. That was going to be Ava's ride for the weekend too. Ava was adamant about riding a motorcycle. In her mind, this trip was only about getting on a bike. She was determined and would not take no for an answer.

Charlie and Eric decided to appease her and let her try and ride a tiny stretch of flat road on Jayna's (the Schaeffer's 5 year old daughter) Yamaha PW 50. I sat in the grass taking pictures, watching, and listening. "This (the throttle) makes it go. This (handbrake) makes it stop." Charlie would hold on to the bike as Ava practiced making it go and finding her balance. He would take Ava to where Eric was standing and then Eric would hold on to her and take her back to Charlie. Over and over.

Then...girlfriend got it. No more help, she took off on her own! She got off that safe little flat road and headed uphill, turned between two trees, and rode downhill across the grass back to the gravel road. Eric and I were so shocked at our baby's ability. We truly had our doubts about her riding this bike. But like I said, she was determined and showed us all. Big time.

We played a lot in the river as well. I had no idea what a party river it was. Wow. Lots of happy, young, drunk folks. No biggie. It was all fun. Even the dude in a Borat thong with a round tattoo on his right butt cheek wasn't all that disturbing.

There was a rope swing that Audrey had to try. She had to swim across the river and climb steps (planks nailed to a tree that leaned towards the river) and grab ahold of a rope tied to the very top of the tree. She did it twice. While she is a bit of a dare devil, I don't think she is completely comfortable with heights. She would only go so far up the tree.

We spent time in three different areas of the river. The area closest to our camp was our rock and tadpole collecting area. Audrey even managed to snag (in a small handheld net) a small fish. I think it was a skulpin. Otherwise, it was tadpoles, crayfish, and minnows.

Before we left to return home, Julie took Audrey to the river one last time to catch a few tadpoles to bring home. Being a homeschooling Momma, I thought this would be a good science project for her. We currently have 4 1/2 tadpoles. I told Audrey she could bring home 4 max, but Julie found a tiny one as they were leaving, so we got that one too. Audrey named them: Biggin, Minnie Mouse, Hammer, Meadie, and JuJu. They currently reside in an aquarium on our kitchen counter. We boiled lettuce to feed them and bought a filter to provide oxygen. So far, so good!