Floating at Watermelon Park

July 22nd I took the kids up to Ashburn so we could raft down a cute little river at Watermelon Park with Grandma, Laura and family, Stephen, and Jason. Lance and I had floated down this river 10 years ago when he was a baby, but I haven't been back since.

The kids were excited, although Lance was a little bummed it wasn't going to be a white water rafting adventure.

Waiting in line to ride the bus to the drop-off point.

Riding the bus! Lily and Grant are friends (when they're not beating each other up!).

The drop-off point was less than two miles upriver. It was quite the adventure getting all the kids inside their tubes and floating together. Thank goodness for all the adults!

Jude decided he was a good swimmer and didn't want his life jacket. Since it didn't get much deeper than about 4 feet, I thought this was okay.

(In retrospect, he would have had a better time had he worn his life jacket. Live and learn, I guess.)

I took my phone so I could take pictures. I even managed to keep it dry!

Trying to keep everyone together...

Uncle Stephen!

Thank goodness for all the adult helpers.

Laura had the right idea and strapped all her floats together.

Lily and Cole thought floating around was great! (For a bit, anyway.)

These boys had fun popping in and out of their tubes, although Jude had to be rescued a few times. 

Much of the time the moms walked while corraling their kiddos. Thank goodness it was shallow enough to walk, although the rocks on the bottom made the going a bit difficult.

Lance was HUGE help, rescuing wayward tubes and helping keep everyone in a big group. It's so nice having a big kid!

Grandma and Lily hung out for most of the ride.

And baby Lexi (only about 5 weeks old) was an angel. She didn't seem to mind the water at all.

Jude's shoes managed to come off and he lost one on the ride. Oops!

Little Austin taking a nap.

Lexi Lou!

Uncle Stephen to the rescue again! Cole decided he wanted to swim instead of float.

It was fun! I was a tad stressed the whole time, worried I would trip over rocks and Lexi would go under, but we made it to the end and everyone had a good time.

Chick-Fil-A afterwards!

And of course everyone needed a bath when we got back to Grandma's house. This sink is the perfect fit for this tiny peanut.