['Hi there. Did you do anything fun for the 4th of July? I went kayaking and hit some pretty heavy rapids. I had trouble with them, but the friend I was with did not.']
That's awesome.  Do you go kayaking often?
I was kayaking with friends over the 4th of July holiday. The river was very fast due to recent rains. My friend managed to make it through the rapids very smoothly without any trouble at all, to a degree which was very surprising.