We had been eyeing a canoe ever since we first started borrowing Hank and Sally's. And with our back issues, we were looking for a light weight one. Several weeks ago, I happened to see an Esquif Mistral on the rack at our local REI. A week or so later, Sarah and I stopped by to give it the heft test -- it really was light. Then it went on sale for Labor Day; but was sold before we could get to the store. However, REI was happy to sell us one on-line and and ship it to the store without charge. Robert and I picked it up as Sarah was heading to Seattle Friday night to help out in some very tough times there. Today, we took it out to Violet's Lock on the Potomac with Robert's friend Evan and his mom Sue (one of the originals from Sarah's mom's group). We all had a great time.

Oh... the photo at left: Our day started with me fixing some breakfast while Robert was supposed to be getting dressed. But he found the box of Dora band aides and decided to decorate himself rather than put his clothes on. I put Robert band aides on the shopping list...