First, to prove your "manliness" you are required to submerge your head into a cold mountain stream. So, as Will and his dad proved their manliness one more time in the Wenatchee River, I couldn't be shown up.
I feel very manly now, thank you.
The other way to become a man, or I should say right of passage since Will has a sister, in Will's family is to build a boat. I am pretty sure that this is just an excuse for Will's dad to get a bunch of watercraft. Will built a sailboat, his brother built a catamaran, and his sister built a kayak. It's a beautiful kayak, which we took out for a cruise of Priest Lake.
With the emphasis on manliness in Will's family, you need a way to retreat to boyishness which Will did with his new hobby of tree-moving. In both Couer D'Alene Lake and Priest Lake, he found big logs (one a nearly entire tree) near the shore which he proceeded to move out into more open waters. This required swimming underneath the logs and getting huge back scratches. He spent hours trying to move the logs. And he seemed pretty delighted the whole time. 9-year-olds are easy to entertain.
