So this past weekend was a nice long weekend being Memorial Day. I definatly enjoyed having the extra day off, but I also appreciate the day itself. I went and planted flowers for my grandfather over the weekend. He was a vetran from WWII.

Now for the fun part of the weekend, I did go paddleing. Would you expect anything less of me? I didn't think so. I love to just go and practice my skills when I can't go runa creek or river. Monday we went to Wallis Wave which is on the Loyalsock. We spent 3 hours playing in the wave and I did throw in a few rolls. I am so happy that I have gotten better at rolling. I was also able to do a few flat spins in the wave. I just have to keep practicing my skills to get better.

So I also got some good news from my sister over the weekend... I am going to be an Aunt again. I currently have a nephew that is 3 years old and he is the cutest thing in the world. He is going to be a big brother in December. I am so excited and happy for her!

Posted by Carolyn Braun at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know I know, I talk about kayaking a lot in this blog, but thats what I tend to do. I have been kayaking a lot lately (almost everyday). Not only is it fun but it is a great workout.

So I have recently begun paddling another boat, I was in a Perception Mr. Clean and I am now paddling a Pyranha 420. THere is a big difference between the 2 boats. The Mr. Clean is 7'9" and had a volume of 56 gallons. The 420 is 6'1" and has a volume of 46 gallons, so it is much smaller, but I absoutly love it. I am able to roll it easily and and I am even trying to learn a stren squirt where you sink the back end of the boat into the water so the boat is perpindiculat to the water and your body is parallel to the surface of the water. I tried it a few times this past weekend and ended upside down.

So this weekend we went to the Neskopeck on Sunday. I was determined to have a great run because I was in a different boat. I was not the first swim of the day which made me very happy. We were about half way through when I had my first flip and I went for a roll and missed so I tried again and made it back over. It was the best feeling in the world! That was my first combat roll, which is a roll in a rapid. I had the biggest smile on my face when I popped back up. I was able to throw 3 combat rolls on the Nesky, I did swim 3 times though. One of those times I flipped next to a rock and could not roll up becaue I can only roll from one side right now.

I was so very happy with my run on Sunday. I feel that it was my most successful trips down a river!

Now this week started summer classes. I am in class from 8-4 Monday through Friday for the next two weeks. After these classes are over I then have class from 8-12 for 2 and a half more weeks. My classes are keeping me very busy so I don't think that I will be able to play as much for the next two weeks.

This is a holiday weekend, so I hope that I get to play some this weekend.

Posted by Carolyn Braun at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the second week of break from classes (of course I start summer ones next week) and I am glad to have this break. I have had time to relax and sleep and have some fun. I went to NJ this past weekend to spend some time with my family and see my mom on mother's day. I drove to NJ on Thursday night after work, I threw the kayak on the car and took it with me.

Friday I got my car inspected and then went and paddled on the Cedar Creek, just a mile from my house. I thne chilled at home and talked to the neighbors.

Saturday I spent the day with my parents. I don't get to see them much since I am so far away, about 4.5 to 5 hours. I also was able to entertain the neighborhood with practicing rolling my kayak in the pool. They throught that it was the funniest thing they have seen in a long time. My neighbors in NJ are a lot of fun. Later, we had a mother's day dinner and it was nice to spend the time with ym family. I had to drive back to Lock Haven on Sunday.

Monday I spent the day at work and then played in the pool here at Evergreen commons in my kayak. I have been working to perfect my roll. Tuesday I went to spring creek and met some other baoters there. We played in a wave and surfed a bit. I am not that good at playing the my kayak, it is kinda long for the wave we were in. I did swim twice because I couldn't get my roll, but at least I tried for it. So I am up to 13 swims for the year so far. I worked on wednesday and trusday in the pool again and I think that I may have figured out my roll. It is in the style of a C to C roll, with a little modification. Lets hope that I can do it again when I really need to.

Me upside down in the pool.

Me and my bff Alexa

Posted by Carolyn Braun at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is the first week off from the semester. I have been working a lot. bit it is good. I was able to get out and go kayaking last friday afternoon. Jared and I went on pine creek and had a nice slow paddle. It was a great time just being out on the water. And to make a good time better, we saw a couple eagles while we were on the water.
This week I also went to Dana's for dinner one night. Though, I provided the dinner of veggie lasagna. After dinner we soaked in the hot tub for a while. This was not much of an exciting week, bit it was much more relaxing that classes are out. I have one more week off before summer classes start. Hopefully I can fit in some more paddling time.

Posted by Carolyn Braun at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week is finals week and what a week it is. I have had such a busy semester withall the classes that I have taken and with all the fun things that I have tried to fit into the few days off that I have had,
I have had to study and do a lot to finish off this semester. I had my Linear programming final Tuesday and my assessment final also. I had my classroom management final on wednesday and then my readng final was a take home and it was due thursday. I am so glad to be done with the semester. It was a hard one, bit I am sure that next semester will be a lot of work because I am entering block.
This past weekend the outing club went horseback riding. It was a lot of fun. For some reason I was put on the talledt horse of all, which I found interesting because I am clearly the shortest. I actually needed a stepstool to get onto the horse. It was a lot of fun though. I love that I have been able to take advantage of the trips from the outing club this year. Now time for summer and fun.

Posted by Carolyn Braun at 9:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)