Saturday, September 22, 2012

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Family Therapy on a Raft!!!

Hi All,

Well we got back from Lodore and I've been meaning to post pics and recipe ideas.  Time has gotten away from us, so I've gotten behind on posting here.  The trip was wonderful, even though our boat was a bit over loaded.  It's certainly time for a 16' raft!  I'll post what I end up with and why.  The kids and families had a blast.   I'll post pics and an update soon.  Thanks to all of you who have submitted ideas for the River Cookbook, we will be getting to that as well.

The last two years of my rafting life has been interesting.  Besides starting this blog to encourage other families to look into rafting as a family recreation, I've been donating trips for school auctions, and have also take some clients on family raft trips.  We have also donated trips to cadets from the Air Force Academy, who were in need of break form the rigors of their training.  Because I'm a Family Therapist, watching how families and groups interact on the river is particularly of interest to me.  We donate all of our trips as a way to introduce the wonders and healing the river has to offer.

It's been a pleasure getting to know people as we float down the river.  Watching the "river discussions" between family members that would not take place in their home environment has been a blessing.  Talks on the bank of the river or around the fire at night have inspired us to offer more of these experiences to others!  The trip donations and other trips have gone so well I've decided to figure out a way to donate therapeutic float trips to in crisis families and other in-need groups, such as Foster Homes and lower income families.  I'll be posting more about this as time goes on.  I have all winter to put next year together.  We are hopeful that we can offer other families the healing experiences that the river offers.

The following companies have assisted our project by either donating gear or making their product affordable as we put this together.  Thank you so much.

Canyon Coolers
Stitches-n-Stuff
OutdoorPlay
King Soopers
Middle Park Meat Co

Bill Strong of Denver on Family Rafting