That Sunday was glorious--a short cloudburst, but otherwise sunny and cool and breezy. Ah, up-north-August weather! It's so blessedly different from Arizona in summer.
Aunt Reenie and Clara
As you can see, Clara loved stomping in the puddles! She got soaked and muddy and was just thrilled with it all.
Lydia on left, Abby on right; what glorious sky!
We spent some time digging in the sand and just a little time in the water that first day. It was a little too cool for comfortable swimming. But as the week progressed, the weather warmed enough for plenty of lake time.
Despite their July swimming lessons, the kids were very nervous about swimming in the lake without flotation devices. Jeremy was determined to get them out to the floating dock--and wanted them to jump off it. This plan ended up with everyone crying and vowing to stay away from the dock the rest of the week. Josiah balled up on the dock and wailed, "This is not a good option for me!" Although the girls did jump in and swim back to the dock, they didn't want to do it again. Clara even managed to leap off the dock (unexpectedly) into the water when Jeremy was in a kayak, causing him to capsize in rescuing her.
Grandma arrived Sunday evening, much to everyone's delight!
Jeremy bought a hammock from Sierra Trading Post and enjoyed testing it out at Lorien. He spent some relaxing time in it, but it always attracted the kids, so he often had a few little bodies piled on top of him.
My mom managed to borrow some bikes for the big kids, and Reenie loaned Clara this little lady bug riding toy so she wouldn't feel left out. Clara loved going back and forth with it under the tennis net. I don't know how much she actually rode it (she seemed to prefer pushing it), but she knew it was meant for her and was very possessive of it! If she saw anyone attempt to use it--even from across the road--she yelled indignantly and pointed out the culprit.
My mom loves kayaking and took the girls at different times. Josiah doesn't really like any sort of boating and preferred to be with his fellow "thugs" (cousin gang). Clara did try kayaking with Jeremy, but she didn't like it much . . . probably the stopover on the dock and subsequent dunking didn't help her appreciate it, though.
But kayaks are fun for everyone on land!
Josiah spent a good part of the week engaged in planning or executing water fights. This culminated at the end of the week in a big water-balloon fight between the big kids (Ben, Elena, and Jonas) and the little kids (Josiah, Andrew, Justin, and sometimes Lydia). Josiah recruited Daddy to help douse and dunk the big kids, and of course this turned the battle into something more epic--and helped the little kids win.
Lydia and Justin use the special water-balloon-filling jug
Clara liked holding little water balloons and bursting some of the kids' stash, but she didn't entirely understand what was going on.
Abby
We ate most meals outside, and my dad as usual stepped up as chief breakfast chef. He made eggs, French toast, pancakes, bacon--all sorts of good stuff! We had the annual all-family pancake breakfast in the middle of the week.
Pancake breakfast pictures:
Lydia's one regret about being at Lorien was that Daisy and Suzie (Aunt Reenie's dogs) probably missed her. She regularly thought about them and mourned her absence from them. Sometimes she nearly cried because she thought they must miss her so much. "Daisy and Suzie are probably thinking 'Where is Lydia?'" she'd tell me. As you can see in the pictures below, she feels doggie enough herself . . . sometimes it comes out in licking hands when wearing a dog towel.
We spent lots of time at the beach that week. It's a great beach for building sand castles and moats and rivers and dams and all sorts of things. The kids love to get buckets of water and pour them into their canals over and over. Jeremy played many games of volleyball, and we both got to go sailing in my parents' Sunfish quite a few times. Abby actually took to sailing, more so than any of her siblings. (Josiah refused to go and said he was afraid Daddy would capsize and drown when he went out.) She even told me last week that she wants to be a sailor when she grows up.
One of my cousin's cute twins--is it Cora or Adele?
Rachel and Ellen
I'm going to split the vacation post into two so as not to run too late or too long tonight. That's it for now!
