Labor Day at the Lake

 Our weekend was cold and rainy. We wanted to get out and fish, but it was windy and chilly and rainy.  Finally on Monday we decided it was better than it had been all weekend and we were going regardless of the temperature.

Honestly, for the first part of the afternoon, it was pretty nice.  We were in a sheltered spot and the sun was shining.

 The only problem was that the fish weren't biting.  That, and the wind kept blowing our lines back to shore.

 The boys gave up fishing before long and were watching some minnows by the edge of the lake.

When it was time to go, we started packing up and realized the five year old's line was reeled in, but the hook was hanging in the water ... and there was a minnow attached.

 He had told us he wanted to catch a baby fish, so I guess he got what he asked for :)

 It was awfully slippery though :)

 Some people walked by on the path next to us and asked if we were having any luck.  My husband told them that we had only caught this one "monster."  And ever since then the five year old has said he caught a monster fish.  It seems that boys learn young when it comes to fish stories...

 The little guy had fun picking flowers and he and the five year old continually brought me flowers through the day.  I brought my book along and enjoyed the sunshine.

 Since the big fish weren't biting, we packed up and headed to the bigger lake nearby.

 The boys and I stayed on the beach and played in the sand.

 We were in more wind over here, but the sun was still out for most of the time.  I did end up putting on my jacket though, and anyone who knows me knows that means it was chilly.  Very chilly.

 The lake has an amazing view.

 The crazy 10 year old thought he would swim.

 And of course the brothers do what he does - monkey see, monkey do.  He was grabbing wet sand, running back to me...

 ...and throwing it down right by me.  Then he would squat down and try to make it into a castle.  I got pretty sandy in the process.

 As soon as we got to the beach, my husband wandered off in search of dinner.  Unfortunately there weren't any fishy volunteers.

  

 I love the blues and greens of the water ,and the way the shadows fell on hill on the other side.  It was very relaxing.

 We had a couple bottles of bubbles in the car.  It was windy enough that they didn't even have to blow them.  They just held the wand up and let the wind do it.

 The ten year old was trying to catch the bubbles.  That should give you an idea of how windy it was.  It was blowing them to him a good 20 feet away and they were going fast enough he couldn't catch them all.

 The five year old decided he wanted to go "swimming" so I rolled up his pant legs.  He quickly pulled off his shirt - which I thought was funny given that I knew even his knees wouldn't get wet.  And it was cold.  I couldn't get him to put his shirt back on for a long time.

 He was standing on the dry sand, and when the waves came within a foot or two, he would run away.

 Someone had dug a trench, which the boys thought was fun to play in.

 The three year old just kept running back and forth along the edge of the water.  He actually got in clear up to his back end.  And he never complained about being cold.

 

When we were heading to the car, after the shoes were back on, we came across this big puddle.  It took a lot of talking to convince him not to walk into it.

It was a fun day, but our hoped-for fish dinner didn't get to happen.  We went home empty-handed and had tacos for dinner :)