And then…it started to rain…and get cold…and everyone was wet and shaking…miserable….and awful!! We huddled together for body warmth, used life jackets to cover our legs. All I could think of is…”Swell, I brought six kids who are standing here shaking like leaves…they’ll never talk to me again.” To their everlasting credit, not one said a word (their lips were probably frozen rigid) and when we finally hit the beach to make camp, our guides informed us that everyone had to erect their own tents and help unload everything from the rafts (you make a “fire line”). This was all news to me. …View image…

The crew helped this night only and made it very clear that we would have to do our own setting up the next two nights.

We stood in a hypothemic circle…doing the “hokey pokey”…anything to get some blood moving…and erected our tents in a tight circle. To compound the misery, there must have been thousands of mosquitoes everywhere, and all the spraying I did just seemed to egg them on. Tomorrow, we’ll make sure that warmer clothes plus rain gear goes into our red daytime bags. Just in case this wonderful incident happens again.

Not buying, or asking parents to provide children with really good rain gear was my worst mistake on this trip. They really did come close to hypothermia in the cold while sopping wet.

Once we got the tents up, and everyone into warm clothes, the rain stopped and spirits rose. Josh’s mother had sent a little clothesline and Josh and Nick had a great time stringing it inside their tent! Cute and creative.

playing by the Green River, Utah

Crabmeat (pseudo crabmeat) appetizers with chips and crackers. Followed by salad, spaghetti and a fun desert. The crew baked some sort of sponge cake and cut it into small pieces. You had to kneel down, Matt put a piece of cake in your open mouth, a strawberry on top of the cake, and sprayed whipped cream on top of that. Hilarious…and several of us did it.

squirting a whipped cream dessert directly into mouth, Utah

Everyone into their respective tents: Jenna and Sarah, Lexi and me, Josh and Nicky, Zach and Mike, “ex-Marine” by himself. It is obvious that it is going to be futile to: 1. dry anything; 2. stay clean; 3. keep the bugs off us. I’m not going to fight it…grunge rules…and if everyone brushes their teeth…we are good! Everyone survived the first day…