Canoeing with kids

Canoeing with my kids!

Recently I took the kids out for a hike in the wilderness. We stayed in a cabin close to the lake. Soon my kids found the canoe in the lake. I heard little voices "mama can we go on the boat,pleaseeeeeeeeeeee".
I remembered reading about this article, where she wrote about travelling on a boat in a river. I could picture the boatman pushing the pole down in to the water and the whole pole disappearing in to the water. I was getting a bit scared. Boating with the kids?. What if the boat capsized?We are talking about 3 kids!. Nearest hospital is 56 km away and it takes atleast 1.5 hours to drive on the mud path to reach the main road.
"Mama, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" The begging started
I thought, I have travelled in boats.. big ones with the boat man at the helm, small ones, on which my cousin used his leg as oar and rowed across the river.. So boats and I get along well and as long as I row well, We should be fine.Besides I am Methran Thambi's grand daughter!

I made everyone wear life jacket. Warned my son to sit still and I climbed on the boat. My son sat in the first seat, daughters in the second row, me in the middle.
I warned them again to sit still, as the boat would move swiftly while I row and I didn't want them to fall in to the water.
I taught my kids to sing the boatman's song
kuttenadan punchayile
Kochupenne
Kuzhilale.....
They showed no interest. Soon my voice too drowned in the stillness of the beautiful lake.
I looked at the oars. They were small ones. I have seen the boats during vallom kali, where oarsmen row so beautifully holding oars twice the size of this piddly looking oars and I thought to myself
'Aiyyah, these Canadians!!! they don't even know to make proper oars'
I took the oars in my hand and rowed. I was concentrating on where the oar was hitting in the water, I forgot to check the other end, which landed on my oldest's shoulder.
"mama, you hit me" we have progressed from nagging to blaming!
"I am sorry, I am sorry" I apologized to my daughter. "I am just getting my balance right".
"Mama, do you know how to row a boat?" She asked me sceptically, while fastening her life jacket.
"Row a boat? Ofcourse. What do you think I am? Don't you know I come from the land of boats"
"I thought you said, land of coconuts?" She looked at me
"Land of coconuts and boats" I was irritated.
Soon I started to row and my son was busy pushing the reeds from his face. he gently pointed to his left and told me
"Mama, the lake is that way"
"I can see" I yelled. The darn boat was going towards the shore.. Some how after rowing and kicking and yelling I steered the boat towards the lake.. when we reached nearly the middle of the lake, the boat suddenly fell in love with the shore. Much as I tried to row, to turn it away from the shore, it was determined. Love is blind and boat was blind.
Soon I found myself and the kids in a boat, that was stuck on a huge tree trunk, in the middle of the lake,with the knowlegde that nearest human is another 2 miles away.
"What are we going to do?" "Are we stuck here?"My daughter asked
The choices were simple.
1. get off the boat and walk through the woods( did I mention there are bears there?)
2. swim to the dock( water temperature is around cool 2 degrees)
3. Scream( and let the bears know, there is plenty of tasty fresh meat!)

As the options weren't options at all, kids decided to help in rowing. Some how we managed to reach the dock and I saw three little kids running as fast as their little legs could carry, away from the boat and the woman who is from the land of boats!