Lake Clear

We went to Lake Clear on the last week of summer vacation. It has been a hot summer, but the day we went to Lake Clear, it was rainy and in the 50s. 

The kids were determined to swim, even if they turned into ice pops as a result. 

Because it has been such a hot summer, the water was quite warm actually. 

The kids liked running into the warm water, but if they weren't fully submerged, they were shivery

Hoyt practicing his levitation abilities. 

Happy boy-o!

Some kind of lake seaweed thingy

Sandy legs and feet 

Gilbert was really into swimming underwater. 

Water girl

splasher

Such a moody, lake day

Looking at things along the beach

Wild mint

A teacup of sand

Orange touch-me-not

Which is an ironic name since we always snapped a piece of this off the plant and rubbed the juice on our bug bites as kids. 

Lake waves

Windy pines

Sandy heart

The upshot of a cold, cloudy day was that we had the beach entirely to ourselves. 

Explorers

I was standing, puzzling over this print, when Lily said she had made it. Which eased my mind greatly. 

A large flat bug. Very flat.

coldness

Snailmarks

Snuggled up

The treasures found along the sand

Goosey girl!

Feathers found

Picnic

Such cool fuchsia berries

They were practically neon

sandy snacks

I was really fascinated with them

Cozied up!

Who knows

Building

Observing in her warm clothes

Gilbert and Elsie put their cold bath training to good use here. Everyone else was bundled up in warm, snuggly clothes and they paddled around. Although they did stop for a warm up for awhile while they ate. 

By the way, I have no idea why they take cold baths. Ever since Gilbert was a baby, he liked cold water, not warm. When Elsie came along, she decided it was the cool (HAHA) thing to do, so the cold baths have continued. 

Discussing sand castle plans

Not sure what these were, but they sure moved fast. There were a lot of loons on the lake that day and looking at this picture, it almost looks like a flock of loons. So maybe. 

I just googled the collective noun of loons and I got--Asylum, cry, or water dance. Collective nouns are such weird things. Like how did someone decide to name a group of birds a water dance or asylum? 

Talking to mommy

Having the beach to ourselves was pretty great

Decorative touches

Pride of creation

She is so grown up!

Fuchsia berries played a role in the decorators palette. 

Elsie finally got cold and got warm clothes on

Digging

And then, after lunch, the sun came out