The Lake

So for the rest of July and all of August, we spent living at Nana and Papa's or at the Lake.

It was great to spent so much time with Nana and Papa and Uncle B as well as hang out at the lake multiple times in the summer instead of just our typical one week long trip.

I think the boys started wishing they lived there all the time. There was plenty of dirt and water and toys and we even had a dog randomly visit us for a day (luckily we found his owners just after dinner...he had ventured from the other side of the lake and I am sure he was much happier to go home for the night and get fed as we were not prepared for dog company at our house).

With so many trips to the lake, both boys were able to work on swimming which was great for them. Clark has always been super nervous about swimming where he can't touch the bottom, even with his life jacket on, so on days when the lake was super quiet (as there were plenty of days in the middle of the week with no boats out) that we would work on swimming/dog paddling to the end of the dock.

This is how we started...with Brian towing him with a ski tow:

Then once he was comfortable, Brian would hold the tow in front of him while he swam...but with it there it was his safety net:

Soon he was swimming out to the ladder at the end of the dock by himself!

I told him if he swam all the way around the dock I would buy him a scuba mask (which he had been wanting for out at the lake) so around he went!!!

He found that if the jet ski wasn't tied up, then he could walk on the lift to the dock and then cross under the dock there back to the shallow swimming side...which was a new trick he also loved.

Here are a few short videos to document the successes (I was running our of camera memory at that moment hence the shortness!)

Logan also earned a scuba mask by swimming out to the ladder at the end of the dock by himself.

And here is one of Logan who almost jumped off the dock which is what he is doing at the beginning before he reconsidered and climbed in instead.

Logan became so comfortable one day that he was playing in the shallow part with me and he took off swimming out towards the dock and then realized that he had forgotten that he didn't have his life jacket on, so he freaked out a little and went under, but Dad pulled him back up and once he coughed out some water, he was all smiles as he said "oops I forgot I didn't have my life jacket on!" :)

I didn't catch it on video or pictures but there was one day that Uncle Ryan was out swimming with Clark and Ryan started swimming out to pull some weeds in the lake that were about 20 feet out from the dock. Soon Clark was right there with him. Ryan would dive down to pull he weeds, then Clark would swim them back to the dock and turn around to go back and get more from Ryan!

Both of my boys came so far this summer and we are soooo proud of them. If was fun to see them get more confidence and try things on their own. I am pretty sure we could do swimming lessons again next summer and Clark would be more willing to actually try what they want him to do.

 

While we were at the Lake, Brian needed a project to keep busy and work on some throughout the summer, so he took on the water front that Papa had been wanting to dig out.

The first step what to put in the second layer of bricks and stairs:

Then dig out about 5-8 inches of dirt and roots, etc to get below the first brick and give us room to add sand

Once we knew Papa liked the first set, then everyone pitched in to pour cement behind the bulkhead (first row bricks) to help with the wakes from the boats hitting it.

When the cement was still wet, Clark, Logan and Aubrie added their hand prints of course (as every outside project at the lake has hand print signatures which is super fun)

 

Then after a lot of trips by everyone carrying bucket loads of sand down to the water at a time, we filled the area in with sand and made our own sandy beach.

Brian finished the steps and we worked on leveling out the dirt above the second layer.

Then the boys and all the big kids all took turns to try out and play in the new sand area.

We call the project a complete success and Papa isn't the only one that loves the new beach area.

Sand castle accessible...check!

Place to sit while watching the kids in the water with your feet in the sand...check!!

Soft area to get out of the water in...check!

Less rocks to step on when leave the dock....check...check and check!!!!

 Thanks Brian for making this project happen this summer and letting us all enjoy the new area at the water front!

Of course between all the swimming and projects there was also plenty of jet skiing, kayaking (wish I got a picture of it but Clark and Uncle Ryan rigged the kayak to a rope tied to the dock so Clark could row out on his own and back...needless to say he loved it!). There was also walk, adventures and plenty of relaxing in the quiet!!!

When the summer was done the boys were a little sad we couldn't just live there forever, but we did everything once last time, took another picture of their handprints

Dad and boys had a little together time on the dock saying good bye to the lake for the year and then we were ready to head out until next summer.

 

Thanks Nana and Papa for letting us spend so much time at the lake this summer and for joining us whenever possible!!!