The River!

I've often lamented that there are no places to swim in Oregon. The rivers are dangerous and cold, the beach is cold, dangerous and far away, and the lakes are stagnant and swampy. I grew up with lakes all around, so I'm pretty picky.

However, our new neighbors (who I adore) asked us to check out the Sandy River with them this morning. The Sandy River is the River of Death to me, with at least one drowning of an adult and a child each summer. I knew she wasn't going to sacrifice her girls to the River Gods, so I figured we'd be safe.

We had our doubts though, when saw a huge warning sign about drownings in the area. Not too reassuringly, there were lifeguards and a strong recommendation for life vests for the kids. On the upside, they also pointed out a nice, calm place to play and swim.

The end of the story is this: No one drowned, the river was calm for a nice stretch, I got to dunk and swim (!) for a few minutes and my kids went "swimming" in a natural body of water for the first time.

And we're all tuckered out!

Yay for summer, neighbors and still being alive!