We Took Our Kids on the Grande Ronde River For a Week

In June 2024, we decided to organize a week long trip with some of our closest family and babies on a river in Oregon/Washington called the Grande Ronde. It was definitely an experimental adventure. A large part of our lives before kids was whitewater rafting, with a special love for multi-day trips. We were gathering my brother-in-law with their eight month old, my sister-in-law with their year old and us with a 2 1/2 year-old and 11 month old. Holy baby party. We had some other friends along with boys aged 11 and 14.

As the one organizing the trip, I was a little bit nervous about all the young ones being on the river that many days. What would they do? Where would they sleep? What would they eat? How were we going to manage on our boat with two babies? Would we all hate each other at the end?

We arrived at Minam store to launch. While getting the boat ready, Noah and Lou were playing in it without the frame. I looked over to check on them at one point and saw a dark mud colored smudge on the inside of the boat. As I got closer, I realized it wasn’t mud, but poop! Poop-splosion. As I approached with caution, I realized Noah had pooped up his back and was spreading it all over the boat and his sister. I yelled for Josh and we were both holding babies in the air, wiping butts and trying not to get poop on us. There were some couples in their 70’s at the launch as well and they were laughing in the moment with us, reminiscing about having their littles on raft trips. We were off to a killer start. When you’re trying to pack for a multi-day rafting trip, the launch looks like an explosion of gear, people, food, etc. Take that and multiply it by five when you add babies. Plus we had enlisted chief baby wrangler, Charis. Known for her headstrong attitude against strong willed babies, she can put the toughest of kids to sleep.

Prior to this trip Lou had only been in her life vest for one previous float, which went….poorly. Our friend Adam was lovingly laughing at us on that trial run saying, “y’all are crazy.” We were taking a huge risk by signing up for a week of her being in her life vest. I don’t know if you remember being in your life as as a kid, but I do. I remember hating every moment of it and asking my dad every five seconds if I could take it off. The answer was always no, and still to this day remains to be no. When my dad comes to visit us…life vest on young lady. Noah on the other hand loves his life vest and realizes we are doing something adventurous when he puts it on.

One of the coolest things about being on the river together is that you form a community. Everyone falls into their rhythms and paces at camp, picking up chores, cooking food, setting up the groover, baby wrangling. It was amazing to see the support we had when it came to the babies. The 14 year old boy was smitten with the young ones and was constantly holding them or playing with them. I can't wait to show his future girlfriends pictures. It was amazing to see the group collaboration around us having four little babies on this trip. Everyone wanted it to work, everyone was invested. The group collaboration was beautiful and extraordinary.

My sister-in-law had this little camp chair for her one year year-old son. She bought it at Target. It’s a basic camp chair but has a tray that attaches to it so you can set your kid in there and place food on the tray and they can be somewhat self-sufficient. I have to admit, I was a little judgmental of all the baby accoutrements that were showing up on the trip, judgement on myself included. I brought a foldable play pen to keep them contained. Which we used a grand total of zero times. I thought are these really necessary? What were people doing back in the olden days,? Then I realized, in the old days people didn’t have time to go on rafting trips. Whatever you need to get out, is what you bring. Whatever makes you feel like you can do it, is what you pack. It doesn’t matter how silly someone else thinks it is. Also, needing to change my perspective and saying, “man, thanks for showing me something that is helpful with littles.” Being a mother has changed so much for me. It’s breaking my judgmental side into a million little pieces. Bring everything or bring nothing, just get outside. Just because it’s different than how you would do it, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. After this rafting trip, I immediately went to target and bought two of the same camp chairs for my children. We have used them multiple times since this trip. Little baby containers. In the picture below I forgot Lou’s tray. Typical.

Let’s see, putting kids to bed was a little rough. Lou would cry most nights and I ended up snuggling her to sleep quite a bit. Noah partied his face off until nine or ten every night but don’t worry, he still woke up at 5:30 or 6:00 ready to go the next day. During the day we ended up holding Lou most of the time on the boat for her naps which seem to work out well. She was probably under slept, but she didn’t let us know it was affecting her anyway throughout the day. She adapted and adjusted and proved to be a pretty resilient little bugger. I love that trips like these can instill a sense of resiliency and adapatbility. After reaching maximum comfort level, she was holding onto the raft with one hand and leaning out over the water to try and touch it. Don’t worry Josh did have a hold of her life vest the whole time. Noah fell asleep sitting up/leaning on someone. He would rip around the boat and sit on the cooler, his perch. Tiredness would eventually overtake him and he would quite literally, fall asleep where he was sitting.

The Oaki Rain Suit was a life saver. We put some layers underneath, that onto and he was waterproof. Stopping for camp and lunches Noah would be sure to find his way to the sandiest part of the camp and immediately start devouring handfuls. I just kept thinking he is going to get worms. When sand came out the other end, it was pretty interesting.

With technology we are all connected and disconnected at the same time, what a dichotomy. Being reachable at any second, but not being present because we are plugged to our devices. You take away technology for a week and people engage, people open up, people connect, people get vulnerable. These trips are bigger than ‘doing the thing’. They’re about time together, about getting back to nature, about slowing down, about checking in with yourself on what really matters. These trips are a time of reflection and a time to connect with the beautiful world God has created. It’s been so fun watching Noah get so used to the rhythm of our life and the rhythm of us being outside. He thrives on it. He will bang on our glass door at home to go outside, despite terrible weather conditions. He doesn’t mind his life vest anymore. And he knows that when we put it on, we’re going to do something fun. The smile that consumes his whole face when he sees his life vest or his puffy is amazing. Lou hasn’t quite gotten to the same place as Noah with seeing her outdoor gear.

While packing for the trip, I was so worried about what toys to bring for the kids and how many clothes to pack. I remember Josh saying don’t pack any toys so I didn’t. He said bring fewer clothes so I did. Then we got to the put in and I saw that my sister-in-law had a bag of toys for her daughter. Panic. I immediately felt self-conscious and inadequate. At one point we got the toys out for the kids to play with and they went untouched. They all went for rocks and pinecones and sticks and sand and water. They were drawn to the natural elements of the earth. It was amazing to see that I don’t need to care about those things. I don’t need to put pressure on myself to constantly entertain my kids. Boredom can be a good thing. Exploration can provide and create imagination. Providing kids a world in which you are connected to the outdoors is going to satisfy them in a way that plastic toys cannot. It’s going to spark curiosity. It’s going to develop a sense of creation in them. As for the clothes, I still think we could’ve packed a few more outfits, but we did manage. We ended up washing a few outfits in the river and letting them air dry. The kids didn’t know any better but I felt bad they had dirty clothes on. They honestly don’t like wearing clothes anyway…. As soon as they are potty trained, I think I’ll let them run around naked pretty much all the time.

Hopefully this trip built on the foundation of loving the outdoors for my children. I want to instill in them a sense of awe and wonder for what God has created. I want them to love and appreciate that we get to spend our time with outdoor recreation.