Wow, I started this thread six years ago, & it was fun to be reminded of where we started compared to what we're doing now. We ended up finding a used tandem flat-bottomed kayak. Our kids were tiny, & my husband & I could easily paddle it with a kid in each of our laps, with room for a picnic. It handled well enough that I could also take it out myself. We had tons of fun for a couple of years before the kids started getting too big. We added a used single kayak that I paddled. Older kid took my old seat in the tandem and started learning to paddle, while younger kid rode in the middle. By the time that was uncomfortable, older kid was ready to paddle her own boat, & younger sister moved into the learner's seat in the old reliable tandem. By last summer, my girls were capably handling their own kayaks on lakes and class one rivers. Using light/compact backpacking vear, we've successfully gone on overnight trips. These days we kayak as often as we hike. We still have the old tandem, as well as 4 sit-ins and a couple of cheap sit-on-tops that the girls like to play with on the little local lake. We LOVE our kayaks.