This "annual picture" tradition started with me flying every year with my daughter Allison starting in 1997 and continuing still. See all those pictures here.
Every year since 2009, Carson and I have taken a canoe trip. The first couple of years, we started in Monticello and would camp on an island about five miles down river, then get out at Otsego City Park.
We got more ambitious by about year four and started in Becker for two years.
Then as he got older and busier, we turned it into a day trip on the Mississippi.
And when he got even busier and it was hard to find time to do even that, we'd just go to Lake Ann in Chanhassen for a few hours.
Then Susan got a new car that can't carry a canoe and mine won't either, so we rented.
Yesterday, we went down to see if the rental office was open but it closed for the season.
No canoe, no way to get our canoe to the lake and no canoe trip. But we still wanted the picture. It's the last one, the only one without a canoe in it. Kind of pathetic but at least we got the picture!
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018. 2018, you suck. No canoe. No trip. And Susan chose "Square" on her camera, so it doesn't even match up with the other pictures.
But in 2019, we ain't gonna miss doing it!
Hey, what could YOU do every year with your kid and grab a picture of it?