Sunday Beach Party

 Sunday after church and lunch, we loaded everyone up and headed to the beach ... at a local lake.  We're a bit far from a real ocean beach.

 My niece had never been to a beach before, and she was talking about it earlier in the weekend, so we decided to make a day of it.

 Notice how hard he is trying to keep from actually getting into the water?  He did eventually go in, but not too far.

 My husband can't be around water without fishing :)

 My brother in law got in on the action too.

 The rest of us stayed at the beach with the kids and played in the water.

 I was glad to see the five year old get right in - despite his last experience in the pool at Grammy's where he accidentally fell off his inflatable iguana and went under.

 He was having serious wardrobe malfunction issues all day - lol.

 We played volleyball and frisbee in the water.

 And there was a little brother/sister antagonizing/dunking :)

 The little ones had a ball with all the sand toys.

 They used the weighted frisbees from disc golf, which made missed shots a fun challenge to find back.

 The little boys were more interested in finding feathers.

 The cows came in for an afternoon drink and hollered at us the whole time for invading their cove.

 The two year old found a worm...

 He's very observant.

 I like the way the sun sparkles like stars in this picture.

 Taking a breather.

 One fish caught.

 A little daddy-daughter time.  So sweet.

 Planting a feather flag.

 Checking out daddy's fish.

 Sandcastles!

 Coming back from fishing, the guys rounded up some firewood.  My husband and I drove down the road a bit and filled the back of the Excursion with more firewood.

 Strong man :)

 ...Being mocked by his uncle :)  Can you see the tiny stick the uncle is holding up?

 Time to make dinner - Kronski's (brats made locally) roasted over the fire.

 Did I mention that the fire was really hot?

 

 The chow line :)

 My niece had never been around a campfire either.

 She really seemed to enjoy her day.

 The five year old loves the fire.  This looks more dangerous than it really was.

 He was picking up tiny twigs and pieces of driftwood and throwing them in.

 The ten year old's sandcastle and mega-moat.

 And a pretty sunset behind him.

 The five year old thought we were spending the night, and wanted to sleep right there on the sand by the fire.  He was very upset when it was time to leave.

We enjoyed some time around the campfire waiting for the men to finish fishing before we headed home.  Such a fun day!