Friday, June 24, 2011

Can't I Get Paid to Do This Everyday?

I got paid to kayak today. How awesome is my job? (Ok so not today, today, but Friday, but since my computer and/or Blogger is lame and wouldn't post thisthen, I thought I should correct this mistake. Sure I could've changed it to "I got paid to kayak on Friday." But what's the fun in that?)

We took our little preschoolers on a field trip today to my little lake. I got to meet them all there with my kayaks and give them rides. We did the same thing last year during out summer school program.

Some of our kiddos are severely affected by autism or other disorders, some are in our class for language delays, some are on the autism spectrum but have made such great strides that the average observer would never suspect that they've had challenges.

It almost seems to me that the ones severely affected get the most out of being on the water. Kiddos that are high strung and easily tantrum were calm and relaxed in my kayak today.

I was able to paddle along with a flock of Canada geese and it thrilled one little guy to no end. He's non-verbal, but he was expressing his excitement through vocalizations and waving his arms. It was so cute!

One of our boys that is main-streaming into kindergarten was my kayaking buddy today. He really couldn't get enough paddling around. I had seats for two, and when those were full, he would sit in the foot area in the bow, just so he could go out again. We would get close to the cattails and look for fish and we even spotted a crawdad.

Along with kayaking the kids "fished", waded, played in the sand, and enjoyed a picnic. A great time was had by all. I love my job!