ode to papa, part one: a belated birthday

Ethan and thirty-one candles

on our inaugural cruise

he likes the canoe, really

Two days after Magdalena, Augustus and I left for our road trip, Ethan turned thirty one. So yes, we missed his birthday while we were out having a blast. We celebrated as soon as we came home and his present was... you guessed it! A canoe! And a big one at that. I had so much fun finding it, and as much fun picking it up and giving it to him! Not what he was expecting, but he was actually pretty pleased with it.

It took us a couple of weeks to actually get it in the h2o, but I think once we got it in the water, it was obvious, we were hooked! Magdalena and Augustus love it love it love it. Our first canoe trip was down a small creek, with tree canopy for about half of our journey. It was so so lush and green and gorgeous. I fell down on the photo job pretty horribly, but at least you can see how beautiful it was on the river. It was so incredible, about 10 minutes from our house, right there, in the middle of the city, and you'd never know, we could have been anywhere. It was so quiet and the tide was coming in and there were critters in the woods and water. When there was quiet (amongst us) it was so quiet. No city noise, just the splash of fish and our paddles.

I dare say it was the best birthday gift ever, for any of us.