Kayaks

We bought kayaks! After only living in New Zealand for just a month or two, we already decided we wanted to get kayaks. We would drive past tons of great estuaries, beaches, and bodies of water that were being begged to be paddled through. We could have made it easy and just purchased the kayaks right away so we could enjoy them sooner. But, we wanted it to be a family affair and made a plan to work hard to earn them. We made up charts that the kids could fill out when they did chores, extra help around the house, made good choices, were kind, or when we saved money instead of doing another activity. The kids worked hard and it was fun to see them work towards their goal.

The day came that the charts were all complete. We had to first purchase roof racks so we could transport our kayaks. Once we found and purchased some on Trademe, we drove to the kayak shop and installed the roof racks in the car park =) We picked out two 3-seater kayaks, one blue & white and the other orange & black. The weather has been crumby, but that didn't stop the kids from trying them out in our driveway. We rearranged our garage and made room for our new additions. 

We don't have much time in the middle of the week, with school and Cody getting home from work late, plus the weather hasn't been sunny. But, Cody came home from work early one day and we had a small window before he had to go to Mutual at church. So we hustled. The hardest part was getting the kayaks on top of the van…oh my! Those things are heeeeavy! Let's just say that I will gain lots of upper body muscles lifting those suckers on and off the van! But, we did it. Our backyard beach's water was a little choppy from the wind so we drove a few minutes to the other side of the peninsula hoping for calmer water. It was an overcast day, but the water was smooth and we were all anxious to christen our kayaks.

Ethan is my kayak buddy and Gavin is Cody's buddy. Reese and Trevor sit in the middle of either kayak and enjoy the ride. I was seriously impressed with how well my boys paddled. They were strong and tough. Since we were pressed for time, we only had 30 minutes on the water, but we had fun rowing out to sea at Arkles Bay beach and exploring. We are excited for better weather and many more adventures with our kayaks!