epic adventures canoeing down the buffalo river

this weekend we (bryan, kim, daniel and myself) took the youth canoeing. we kinda got lost, but it was okay...composure was maintained.
i never knew that after keeping youth inside a church van for 3 hours they would be so cranky (please tell me you smell the sarcasim). there was quite a bit of complaining but once we got on the river things went pretty smoothly.

everyone but bryan and daniel rode two people to a canoe.
within the first mile and in the first rapid two of my youth tipped mine and kim's canoe....
we eventually pulled aside on a bank and had a sack lunch w/ the youth. kim and i however were not strong enough to battle the current so we beached on the opposite side....and had quite a bit of trouble crossing the river. i fell and was almost swept away, but thanks to one of my stronger youth (dalton) who reached out to grab me and hoist me up....i was able to make it across.

after about another three miles down the river kim and i ALMOST dodged a tree....then we tipped completely over and our oars smacked us in the face...it was pretty ballin'....this country family that was drifting by was giggling and informed us that we handled that tree the best way we could.

some of the youth found a rope swing and decided to climb up the rocks and jump off. it was raining by this point...it was just wonderful. we were all just chillin' up on the bank enjoying the cool water and the beauty of nature.

we stopped on a strip in lexington, about an hour away from memphis, to eat dinner. i told the kids the church would pay for their dinner if they could all agree to eat at one place. the adults and 3 of the youth ate at taco bell on the church's account. the rest of the youth walked down to sonic...with some whining.
oh well, that's youth.
after dinner we circled up in the parking lot next to taco bell and we all shared our 'roses and thorns' (thanks mikah) of the day, then prayed and headed home.
the drive home went smoothly as well. daniel seemed to get really tired towards the end so we started singing along and such....

then the church bus passes us....no....pulls up beside us and one of the youth pulls down his pants and pushes his bum cheeks up on the window (great now i need to clean it) and moons daniel and myself.

my first trip with the youth...where I was the adult in charge.
:-)