"Get me out of here!" - Jasper, Alberta

Our day started out pretty slow as we hung around the RV park playing lacrosse and of course Boom Ball.  Grammy and Jamie walked around the campsite looking and recording all of the different license plates that he could see.  His list consisted of plates from Colorado, Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Florida, and Nova Scotia to name a few.  Jamie diligently wrote them all down on his little clipboard that teacher Michelle brought with us on our trip (silly me, who leaves home without their pack of clipboards for the kids on a trip like this??). 

“Get me out of here!  Get me out of here!” Emma shouted as she took a plunge into the Athabasca River.  

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Lets go back about two hours in time .  .  . as we packed up our swimsuits and headed back to Jasper to go on a river raft adventure through Sundog Tours, we realized that we would be cutting it close to making the meeting time at the local parking lot to meet our guides.  Now Michelle had calculated very carefully (of course) the time in which it would take for us to get to the meeting area, however, trying to get seven people ready after a lazy morning meant that we were running a little late.  “I knew we should of left at 11:45!” which is what Michelle repeated as we drove.  I must admit we were a little late, but we could not foresee the possible slow downs in traffic as we drove the 40 minutes.  At one point the traffic slowed down to a crawl as there were about six mountain sheep hanging out by the highway so every passer byer wanted to have their looksie and snap a pic.  Once traffic started to move again, we were once again slowed down by Mother Nature . . . this time about ten deer decided to wander across the highway at their own speed of course.  It was almost as if they knew we were late as they sauntered across saying to themselves, “I know you are late, but look at me, yes look at me!” 

I know we should slow down and take advantage of the sights we see, but in this case we were hoping that they were still around when we drove back.

An elk that was ignoring all of the people taking its picture.  I think it was worse than a Justin Bieber sighting.  

Once we got to the Athabasca River, the kids got to put on their wetsuits, booties and lifejackets on and after a few safety lessons and paddling lessons we were off.  The kids were excited as the boys got to help paddle the boat and be at the front, while Emma sat in the middle giggling nervously away.  Michelle and I sat in the middle section of the raft, while Wayne sat behind Michelle and of course the strongest paddler of the group, Dale, was seated behind me.  Off we floated down the river, paddling through the five sets of rapids all the while Emma giggling in the middle.  Jamie’s favourite part was “when we got splashed by the big waves” and going through the rapids.  Josh loved the "rapids and the speed of the ride and the splashing of the water.  Emma’s favourite part was getting splashed by the water as well. 

Dale is all set to go.

The kids were excited to get going.  Love the plastic bag socks.

The Princess enjoying the crashing surf.

"Come on Jamie!  Put some muscle into those strokes!

"Yes, 2016 Summer Olympics here I come".

At one point in our journey, the guide told us that we could go in for a bit of a swim if we wanted to, so of course Jamie was game to go right away.  He put his paddle aside and slid into the frigid waters as he described it as “breath taking cold, it took my breath away”.  He quickly wanted out.  
Emma tried to slowly lower herself into the water, but slipped in . . . head submerged . . . the look of panic in her face as she resurfaced yelling, “Get me out of here!  Get me out of here!” . . . I was surprised to see her scrambling to get back on the raft since she is one to love swimming and love floating around for hours on end. 

"Get me out of here!  Get me out of here!"

Next it was my turn, I swung my legs over the edge and cockily dropped myself into the water submerging my head . . . instantly the bitter coldness hit me and I was gasping for air, but my lungs did not want to fill up . . . I knew right away why Emma wanted no part of this swimming experience. 

Do you see the joy in my face?  That is the look of, "Are you kidding me!"

Back on the boat, we tried to coax Josh to go in, but he said he did not want to . . . but not wanting to do something and doing something are sometimes the same thing.  As we started again, Josh decided that it would be a good idea to lean as far back as possible and try and get his head wet . . . well, lets just say that Josh tumbled in backwards, almost going under the raft if it wasn’t for Papa grabbing him, and finally being rescued by the guide.  So, although Josh did not want to go for a swim, he did anyways.

(Sorry everybody, but there is no picture of Josh in the water as I was being the concerned parent.  I think I would of taken some heat, if I grabbed my camera and told everyone to wait until I had a picture of his tumble.)  Josh was "surprised that I fell and the freezing water . . . I was scared when I almost went under the boat because I didn't want to get run over".

According to the guide, the water in the Athabasca River was ice up on the mountains 18 hours ago . . . so lets just say that it was cold!!!  Everyone had a great time and as the kids said to us on the drive back, “that was a definite do over!”