Floatin' on a River

(The pics of the actual float trip are on the "water" camera. We took a raft instead of a canoe and were glad we did.)

After passing through Bennett Springs, we headed to our campsite at the Niangua River Oasis by Lebanon, MO. Ed and I had been on 2 floating trips (on different rivers) before this with our dogs (one successful when they were pups and one not too successful because they had gotten too big) and decided we'd try it with the boys this year.

It was 103 the two days we were there. . . . . . but it did get cooler at night and we survived. We were so sick and tired of the flies/bees though - everyone got stung at least once. Good times.

The highlight of the trip for Brett was camping in a tent and having a campfire. We were trying to get everything that would help us build the fire thrown in there the first night, so Brett worried all of the next day about getting every stick he could spot into the campfire for that night.

Brady loved exploring (and is always collecting. I now have a flowerpot full of "cool" river rocks). Our tent (as you'll see below) was set up right by the river (and we could watch everyone float by which was fun) and on the opposite bank was a little beach. The water is freezing (but very clean!) but he made it across right away and loved that he was the only one going over there. The second night we were there he also made a friend at the next campsite and he came over and made smores with us and Brady loved going to their site and playing army (in the dark) with waterguns. The little boy was actually from somewhere in KC - small world.