River Trip- Day 3 A Visit From Grandpa and Grandma

Wednesday was a glorious day! The clouds burned off with only a light breeze by 9am. While a breeze can make swimming a little chilly, it is very nice for keeping off mosquitos.

After breakfast and a bit of unsuccessful fishing, we hopped in the boat to see what the rest of the island looks like. There wasn't much to see, except more pilings and some high voltage power lines, until we reached the east end of the island. A large abandoned military ship was docked on the shore. We decided to check it out, but were cut off by a fishing boat at every turn.
Appearances can be deceiving. The ship was not abandoned, but crawling with workers. And we were not cut off by obnoxious fishermen, but by a security patrol keeping a "safety perimeter" and "no wake zone" around the ship. Since all questions were defered to some governmental office, all thoughts or ideas as to what is being done with the mysterious ship is purely speculation.

the "abandoned" ship

the "fishermen"

Port of Longview

At 11:30, we said good-bye to Chris and Peter and headed back to camp to wait for Grandpa and Grandma to arrive. While jumping off the bow of our boat was fun, everyone was anxious to try some real jumping off the top of Grandpa's boat.

The conditions were perfect for jumping. The weather was hot, the water cool and calm, perfect. Everyone clambored onboard for the chance to be the first to jump. But the water looks REALLY far away when you're standing on the roof. For a long time, we all just sat and considered all the pros and cons of actually jumping from such a height.

thinking...

still thinking...

Zack jumps

Will jumps

After much pondering and deliberation, donning our life jackets (somehow it seemed less intimidating when wearing a personal flotation device), and a little more deliberation, one by one we took the plunge from the roof. Seeing William jump off three times despite his fear of heights and watching even my 60 year old father take the plunge, I reasoned I had to be a "cool mom" and jump. Actually, I did it twice!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing games, eating junk food (provided by grandparents), getting sunburned and swatting mosquitos. All in all, it was a very fun day!