Ryan's First Father's Day

What do you do when the months of rain and cold that seem to extend into summer are getting you down? Head for the river, of course!

To celebrate Ryan's first Father's Day, we enjoyed a couple of days and nights in the Yakima Canyon -- just over the Cascades in sunny and warm eastern Washington. By now you know that Ryan is an amazing father for many reasons, the least of which is his desire to be active and share his love of the outdoors with Arlo. Now that the home improvement projects are not on a pregnancy deadline, we've been getting out more and reconnecting with the reason we love living here: a remarkable landscape that has a little bit of everything in one conveniently located package.

Not only was it Ryan's first Father's Day, but it was also Arlo's first camping experience and river trip. All in all, Arlo was a fine camper and a superb boater, but he was so exhausted from the late nights and sensory overloads that he went to bed about an hour earlier than usual. Poor baby!

Ryan and I have a heightened demand for coffee.
Arlo has a bottle and a little extra time in bed to warm up to the day while camping.

A foot bridge at our campground to hike into the Canyon.

The view from camp. Pretty terrible, eh?

Moon-set in the morning.

Hangin' in the backpack while we get breakfast ready.

Our party on the river.

The trusty guide!

Me and my first mate (do you have first mates in river rafting?).

The best Papa in the world doing a great job making sure his little guy is comfortable on the boat.

Arlo even got a taste of his first whitewater rapids. We boated through a small class II rapid in the upper canyon. Unfortunately, he slept right through it.

We hope this is just the first of many family river trips. In fact, the main reason Arlo is in swim lessons is to help him feel comfortable on the river. It's time for us to buy our own boat (we usually rent) so we can take full advantage of the beautiful place we call home.