Ready, Set, KAYAK!

Kayaking all by myself!

Hey, folks! Kiauna again..

This morning was so exciting! I went kayaking with Chelsea and the kids from Community Boating. I was really nervous about being in my own kayak. I was hoping I to have a partner and was slightly disappointed when I realized I would not have one. After I got the hang of it, everything else went smoothly.

While on the Charles River, we decided to have a couple of races. The first race was just your average race. The first person to cross the river won. Shout out to William for winning! Go William! The next 2 races had a few tricks to them. Our second race started with all of us rafted together, holding each other's paddles. Chelsea counted down from 5 and on 3 we all had to push someone's kayak and paddle backwards to the orange buoy. The first person to pass the buoy was the winner. Sadly I was not the winner of that race but congrats to my fellow JPA, Andy. As if paddling backwards wasn't tricky enough, Chelsea made the next race even trickier! This time, when she counted and got to 3, we had to paddle forward 5 times. That's not all! Once we'd paddled forward 5 times we had to do a complete 360 degree turn before we could paddle backwards to the orange buoy. Guess who won that race? Yours truly! Thank you, thank you. Hold the applause.

Ahmed and Annie smilin' for the camera

We all played a kayak version of tag called "Fishy, Fishy, Cross My River". Here's how the game worked: We started off with Chelsea and Andy being the sharks while the rest of us were 'fishies'. The sharks called out, "Fishy, fishy, cross my river" and we set off on our kayaks. The object of the game was to make it past the sharks without one of them tagging your kayak. If you got tagged, you also became a shark. The last 'fishy' left was the winner. It looked like an awfully positive morning for William as he won that game, too. Aside from the work of paddling my kayak, it was a great day! I wouldn't have changed a thing and I think I speak for everyone who went kayaking when I say: Kayaking is the best!!! I faced my fear of kayaking alone and I can't say I'm sorry that I did. If you're reading this and you're thinking to yourself, 'wow it sounds like they must have had a great time', you're absolutely correct!

Be young, stay golden,

Kiauna Peete