crazy

no labor equals lots of play

I think most people honor Labor Day weekend in the way it was intended… in other words, they do the exact opposite of work and make sure you find time to PLAY!
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For my Labor Day, my best friend Audrey flew up from LA to “get away from it all” and not do any of her normal weekend activities. Since I kept her away from a computer (so she couldn’t work) and our household is strangely void of any soccer balls (that she could kick), I think I helped her reach her goal. Oh, and we decided to go whitewater rafting and wine tasting too…
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We opted for a 1/2-day trip on the South fork of the American River for Saturday. Auds has a friend that is currently guiding the river for the season, but sadly she didn’t get scheduled to work on our day, so we signed up with another company and just went ourselves. [If you’d like to see previous whitewater escapes, you can see photos from previous Middle and South Fork trips by clicking through] Mr. M had gotten to go a few weeks earlier, so he had Baby M duty while we escaped into the foothills for the afternoon.
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Our boat consisted of us and a family of 4 from Marin (parents and 14 and 12 year old daughters) who made the trip quite pleasant. The rapids only get up to Class 3, but you can’t argue with any better way to spend 4 hours on a 95 degree day!
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The river was pretty crowded for the holiday weekend, so there was a lot of boat bumping and grumbles. But luckily, no one left the boat not on their own accord… and heck, Audrey didn’t ever leave the boat! I swam one of the class 2 rapids for fun, but otherwise kept cool via splash wars and nothing else. :)
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And if you can believe it, the pale ghostly creature you see in these photos didn’t get sunburned even! That, in itself, is worth a might celebration!
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The river ends in a reservoir… which basically means the low water and rapids end, and if you want to reach the takeout it’s a long paddle. Luckily, they have a neat system where they chain up a bunch of boats together and a jetski basically pulls out 100 people at a time to the shore. It’s like a free cruise at the end of the day… and you get to eat candy while the breeze ruffles your hair! Pretty sweet.
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So we hopped off the boat, into a bus, and were back home for an easy pizza dinner by 6pm! Sometimes I forget how nice it is to live so close to amazing day trips like that!
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On Sunday, we went a couple miles down the road to Clarksburg for some easy wine tasting at the Old Sugar Mill. We ate freshly baked bread with Manchego, garlic jack, french herb salami and a glass of wine out on their porch for lunch… then indulged in far too many free tastings inside at the 6 wineries.
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We discovered that Baby M loves her some wine barrels and wine glasses as well… not sure where that habit came from.
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Sadly, we had to say bye to Auds at the end of the day… so she could labor a bit on Labor Day, but before she left she got in a portrait opportunity with Baby M. And… we’re pretty sure this is her first smiling photo. You know, where she turned to the camera, Mommy yelled, “Smile L!” and then she did. Pretty darn adorable if you ask me.
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So now it’s back to labor during the week… until that next glorious holiday pops up!
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