Hannah had been in a kayak solo once or twice so she had an idea of what to do. I'm not sure Noah ever had. After being astonished at his boat control I asked him if he had been in one (maybe at the Y camp) and he said "No, I just watched you and figured out how to do it" (blushing pride, but I really don't think he has seen *me* in a *kayak* more than a handful of times). We practiced wet exits, but they both decided it was more fun when they flipped on their own (accidentally) than when I did it.
I let them paddle around for an hour or more, interrupted by breaks to swim, wade, and collect trash (Riversweep weekend). In the midst of that Noah looked at me, leaning back in his boat and said "I could do this all day". In the truck on the way to our next stop he added "I could do that all day, paddling around and learning stuff with my Dad".
Later, while walking the aisles of a local outdoor shop looking for a better fitting PFD for Hannah, she asked what I wanted for my birthday. I said I already got it. And *that* is about as good as it gets.
Scott
ps - With three sitting around, one is just begging to become a C-1. Jonah won't be big enough for a couple of years and by the time Lydia is big enough, Noah and Hannah will have graduated to other boats. The only problem with this plan is that my wife hopped in one, found she fit, and said, "I suppose I ought to learn to roll this if I'm going to paddle it"
