With all due respect to Socrates, who declared that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” we didn’t find our two-month hiatus from blogging about paddling too detrimental to our enjoyment of the sport.
   On the other hand, we’re darn glad to be back online. Our unexamined paddling was definitely worthwhile, but we missed the discipline of reflecting on what we’ve discovered in the process.
   Warm water came early to Lake Michigan this year. In addition to spending a lot of time on the lake, we taught at the 21st annual West Michigan Sea Kayak Symposium, participated in an instructor update with Nigel Foster, and taught for Geneva Kayak Center in Illinois and Adventure Crafters in Maryland. We also participated in the Chicago Whitewater Association beginner trips, took part in a couple of Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association paddles, and finally visited the Wausau Whitewater Course in Wisconsin.
   In the spirit of “a picture is worth a thousand words,” here are a few images from the past few months:

 The children’s graduation at the end of the West Michigan Coastal Kayakers Symposium.
Nigel Foster’s instructor update focused on discovery learning.

An all-day paddle with other Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association members 
included a visit to a bell buoy on Chicago’s South Side.

We got off the water another day before 80-knot winds blew through Chicago and flooded our basement.
This was the first of several powerful and damaging storms in June.

Our annual stint as guest instructors at Adventure Crafters in Maryland began with a full-moon paddle.

Sharon and a Pyranha face off before heading to Wausau with Jeremy.

   Nope. The unexamined paddle is still worthwhile, but we certainly don’t document it as well (in photos or prose) when we aren’t blogging about it.