Sunshine and Water and Kids

Sunshine, Water, and Kids: We had it all this weekend with Kevin's family here for a couple days! We certainly had a good time and it wasn't quiet around here at all until the kids fell asleep at 10:00 PM Saturday night. Yeah...they had such a good time, and sleeping in a tent is such a novel thing, so that the "sleeping" part did not come easy. Once they finally conked out, though, they were down for good. Phew!

I've taken bunches of photos, but here are a few of my favorites. Caution: there are a lot of them here, but maybe the other cousins will enjoy them, too.

Here on the property it was hot and we added water to the old rowboat (stabilized) so the kiddos could cool off.

Later on, we ventured to a nearby Paulina Creek for more adventurous water play. This was fast moving water, so we hung onto the kids almost constantly. I thought this water would be as cold as snowmelt, but it was not cold at all. So refreshing!

Kevin's family gathers for a quick picture, and in the next photo Roo, the family dog, splashed in to join them!

Sunday afternoon we packed a lunch and headed up to Sparks Lake. We were lucky enough to snag the "beach" area for a fun day in the water.

In the next photo, Kevin is entertaining his kids. He said, "Oops! I stepped into a hole!" and went down into the water while the little ones laughed and laughed. This was repeated several times (with variations). I never knew that Kevin had a little bit of slapstick in him. :)

Aiden decided that the canoe needed to be filled with water. ALL the way full, so that was his project for quite a while.

Canoes are so versatile...they can even be turned over for more creative water fun!

A note to other Sparks Lake lovers: The water level is higher than we have ever seen for the first days of August! The first island by the boat landing is nearly all underwater, and most of the "beaches" are covered. The "big" beach where we played today was quite small, compared to all the other years we have been there.

Ken and I paddled over to our favorite camping cove to see how it looked. The little log "landing" has been moved to a new spot and there's a new, lower, "diving board" on the other side. It looked as though another tree or two has come down in the camping area, but we didn't get out to explore thoroughly because there were other campers there. Of course, the water was very high. Throughout the day at the lake we were pleased that the mosquitos were not bad at all. It was good to be there, but seemed strange at the end of the afternoon, to pack up and head out instead of staying overnight.

We said goodbye to Kevin and Erika and the kids at the boat landing...they went on home, and we went back to the property, where we will spend the rest of the week. I gotta say it....without the family here...it is QUIET! (And I miss them.)