Our Princess and the River Rat

Savannah still never fails to make us laugh. She enjoyed getting dressed up in all her girly stuff on two different occassions! She just had to have all of it on at one time! This past weekend we were finally able to hit the river. Savannah amazed us once again and was a brave girl swimming in the water and playing in the sand! It was another great day and we are hoping to head out again a few more times before the summer ends!!

Moores and the River

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and getting out on the river as much as possible. Saturday morning I went out with Uncle Steve and Matthew to do a little cat fishing. We did good and caught 7 cats. Then today we went out with the Moores and had a great time. Savannah is getting more use to the river and really starting to have some fun in the water. In fact she did not want to get out of the water today. We went up to the sandbar on Enterprise Island again. The popular sandbar is Iowa, but the people are either really young or Wallies. A Wallie is a boater that doesn’t really have a clue as to what they are doing. So we have been going to Enterprise. The people have been great and there are kids everywhere. Sorry, got sidetracked there, back to the day’s events. The Moores brought their oldest daughter and left the really little one with family. Erin and Linda sat on the sandbar like princesses while Jeff and I played with the girls in the water. Savannah and I were splashing around and jumping up and down almost getting her head in the water, but not quite. The Jeff’s daughter would run down the sandbar and splash the both of us causing Savannah to laugh like crazy. Then the little Moore got into the action and the three of us were jumping up as high as I could with one kid in each arm. They were both laughing harder and harder. It was a lot of fun. There were some other girls that walked by absolutely covered in mud. So Jeff had to take his daughter to find the “mud hole”, and the did. They were both covered. The little one head to toe and Jeff to his knees. But after a full day on the sandbar we headed for home. Of course, I needed a little help making sure we were going the right way so the oldest Moore daughter was more than happy to lend a hand. It was a great day on the river. We are hoping to do it again next weekend when we meet up with the Haislips.

More Fun on the River

The Denisons had another fun day on the river. This time we brought some friends with us. The Husters (the Melanie/Alan branch) joined us in our fun. Of course this was almost the trip that wasn’t. Unfortunately on Thursday night Grandma Denison was admitted into the hospital with severe anemia. The condition was found during a blood test for a routine checkup. The doctor called and told her to go to the emergency room. The following day they performed an esophagogastroduodenoscopy procedure and found that the loss of blood was from an ulcer. This was VERY good news (not that ulcers are good, but they are treatable with medication). Grandma was then released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. She and Jan went to Tony’s for dinner Saturday night since that was where they were headed on Thursday when she ended up in the hospital. So, back to the river. We headed out a bit late, around 2:00 and stopped at the first spot we could find (Enterprise Island). The temperature was perfect, the sand was nice and the water was refreshing. Nikole and I played in the water, the Husters and Linda sat on the sandbar and watched Savannah and Josh completely cover themselves in sand. As you can see from the pictures, Savannah had sand from head to toe, but she was having a great time. She also had a lot of fun “jumping” up and down in the water. She was not happy about getting in the boat and riding out to the sandbar this time. She was clinging to Mom the entire time. A good time was had by all. What are Melanie and Linda doing in that picture? The ride home was quiet for Savannah, she was nearly asleep. Both Nikole and Josh took turns driving the boat as we left the sandbar. I don’t think Savannah moved after she was put into her bed last night. We think part of her problem with getting in the boat and the whole thing is that her life jacket doesn’t seem very comfortable. So Daddy went out today and got her a new one. This one is neoprene which fits her a little better, is a little more stream lined and gives her greater movement with her arms and neck. We tried it on tonight after we got home from being gone for the open house and she would not take it off. Each time we went to take it off she would say “No” and run away from us, so I guess she likes it. We were actually supposed to go out again today and meet up with the Haislips, but with the open house, going out yesterday, and just being worn down in general, we decided we would be better off to skip today and relax a bit. Hopefully we can meet up with the Haislips again another day.

Little River Rat

Finally… after a year and a half we got to introduce our little one to the river, and she LOVED it. Our original plan was to go out this morning, before it got hot, but with the clouds hanging out this morning and the time it took me to fix the horn and replace one of the batteries, we waited until after nap time. We made a small cooler, lathered her up with sun block and headed down to the river. At first, Savannah wasn’t sure what was going on. She was in that stuffy life jacket and sitting in the middle of the back seat of the boat with mom. But once we got moving, and hit a couple of waves, she was having a good time. Each wave we hit she would say WEEE. Then we got to the sandbar. Again, she wasn’t sure what was up with this place at first. Very stiff legged when we first put her on the sand. But it didn’t take long and she was up to her elbows in sand. Because of the high water, the sandbar was more like a small cliff, which didn’t leave Savannah much room to play in. But she made do. We were talking with the people from the boat next to us, standing in the water, and here comes Savannah, walking out into the river like she had been doing it for years. She really had a good time. Before we knew it, it was past her dinner time. Luckily Mommy thought ahead and brought food for this occurrence. Savannah got to eat dinner in the boat while Daddy picked everything up and got ready to head for home. Of course, no kid can go out on the river without driving the boat. So, in true Denison fashion, Savannah climbed up on Daddy’s lap and took control. She was very serious about her driving. It was a great family day on the river. The first of thousands of trips I’m sure. Now, if we can just get a really small wakeboard…