Jane's Initiation

The weather over the past six weeks has been glorious.  Sunny, clear skies every day, with only one day of rain.  I have been so jealous every time I see a car that's not mine with a kayak on top!  

Since the fantastic four has been temporarily disbanded...Brooke has developed severe motion sickness, Mariann moved to Houston, and Gretchen has a baby...I've been lamenting my lack of kayaking opportunities.  Then earlier this week Gretchen texted me this:  "Hey guess what I bought yesterday--an infant life jacket.  It was the last clearance one at Costco.  Can you kayak this week?"   

Can I kayak this week?  YES!  Unfortunately, I was at a cleaning job when she texted, or I would have replied, "How about right now?!"  We set the date for Wednesday, noon, at Manzanita.  The forecast was for 79 and sunny.  Every morning, for the past six weeks, I've woken up to clear skies.  Except of course, for Wednesday (and that one day it was raining).  I woke up and it was foggy!  The fog eventually lifted to a nice thick marine layer.  At 11:40, just as we were debating via text whether it was worth it to still go, I stepped out on the back porch and noticed a patch of blue sky.  I called Gretchen and during our five minute conversation, the sky magically cleared to a gorgeous blue.  Ten minutes later, the kayak was on top of the car, and I was out the door!

Jane has officially been initiated into to the "Fantastic Four," taking Mariann's place until she returns.  Now Brooke just has to figure out how to get rid of her motion sickness and we're back in action!

Gretchen is positive Jane will love it!

Doesn't she look excited?!

See? It's great!  She's thrilled to be out on the calm, clear water, gazing at the sea creatures below, feeling the breeze in her hair, soaking up the sun.  Come on, Jane, what's not to love?

Gretchen tried multiple arrangements with Jane's positioning.  She really doesn't like the sun in her eyes, so this worked well when we were going into the sun.

Overall, I think it went well and we'll definitely try it again.  It's been such a beautiful late summer, hopefully it will last well into fall.  We'll make a kayaker out of Jane in no time!