Sunny Day at Rainbow River.....NOT...

I was so excited to spend the day on the river and share with Chloe and Charlotte a little bit of Florida "country." Everyone knows Florida has the most gorgeous beaches but our rivers are a little known secret. The morning started off great and I was sure the weatherman was going to be wrong and the rain was going to stay away. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.

About fifteen minutes before we got on the river the rain started.  It started and didn't let up.  I was really undecided as to whether we should stick it out or just get a refund and make the two hour drive back home.

Dave said "lets do it" so I took his lead even though I was a little worried about the thunder I heard in the distance.  So we, the crazy party of five, floated down the river in the rain.

 In the two hour trip we had about 45 minutes where it wasn't raining but it wasn't sunny either.  Believe it or not the girls were actually very cold.  Remember, the river is only 72 degrees F.   Combine that with cold rain and no sun and even on a hot day you can get a chill.   But even though they didn't get the chance to swim in the spring or see the state park.  (We opted out of that because we just wanted to eat and get dry.)
I think it is safe to say we all still had a great time.  We laughed and joked the entire time we were freezing our tails off.

 Needless to say we were all starving by the time we were done and decided to take advantage of the covered picnic tables next to the parking lot.   We had another reprieve from the rain long enough to enjoy lunch and then we headed home.

 I had to laugh because we stopped for coffee and hot chocolate on the way home something that is never done in Florida in July.

After we got home we had pizza and salad then headed over to sports authority to take a look at their kayaks.  We have been wanting a kayak for a long time, in fact we planned on getting two.  However, their tandem kayak was on sale for $112 off the regular price.  We purchased it and are so excited to try it out tomorrow.  We are headed to Fort De Soto park and are hoping that the rain stays away.  Hopefully, if we are really really lucky we will see some Manatees up close and personal.  Wish us luck.

Chloe, dry for the moment and enjoying lunch.

Delicious lunch.

Three dry girls, almost.  lol

Natalie setting up our lunch.

Charlotte.

Safe to say the river wore them out.

oh yes, sleepy girls.

Trying out the new Kayak.

Ready for some Manatee spotting.