The summer the children turned eight and six, Lily and Nathan decided to take the family on a proper rowing adventure.

Nathan had been dreaming about it for years: a week on a quiet lake in the Adirondacks, a house with its own dock, boats for everyone, and no schedule but sunrise and sunset.

Rowie (eight, all fierce determination and her mother’s red curls) was obsessed with “being like Daddy on the water.” Charlie (six, blond and curious, with Nathan’s easy smile) had ...