Aaaah, the beach life

There is not much to compare to relaxing at the beach. Sunny days and cool nights.



We had nearly perfect weather. Of the nine days we were up north it rained for a few hours one day, and Michigan needs rain, so we did not complain. The above photos are taken at Burt Lake State Park. Burt Lake, the fourth largest inland lake in Michigan, was gorgeous as always. Boy B is sporting the push-up pose and Boy A is deep in thought as usual. Lake Michigan was, at least at Petoskey State Park, sadly low by probably two feet. An abundance of algae available at the park for probably the first 50 feet from the beach, but the boys braved it nevertheless. Boy B kept calling it "L G" (say it out loud and you'll understand the humor there.)

I spent some time knitting, quite a bit of time reading the fourth Harry Potter book, "The Goblet of Fire," bike riding, and generally playing with the boys. Dear Husband did some homework, quite a few naps and a little golf. He also did most of the water duty with the boys. Boy B is becoming a pretty good swimmer. Boy A is still working on his confidence and liked wearing the arm swimmies.

The second sock for DH is nearly finished. I am decreasing the toe and will probably finish that before the weekend. I have socks on the brain, so I am thinking of casting on another pair (for me this time). I want to use the Fixation yarn I have, but have read some blogs that indicate that this yarn is rather different to knit with, so I think I will knit my first (insert GASP! here) sock swatch. The boys and I are going out of town again this weekend. We're heading north again to a friend's cottage for only one night, but they have want to go fishing, so we are going fishing. I intend to have the sock ready for serious boat knitting.

Speaking of boating. Oh my, what an adventure we had last week! We rented a pontoon for a day and took it along the Inland Waterway, which includes (but not limited to) Crooked Lake, Pickerall Lake, Burt Lake, many channels and Lake Huron. If you go from (or to) Lake Huron you have to go through a lock. There is also a small lock between Crooked Lake and Crooked River. The lock was a neat experience, but that isn't the adventure of which I speak. The adventure would be getting out on Burt Lake (remember I said it's the fourth largest inland lake?) with three foot waves and four children under the age of nine. (Friends of ours joined us who have two girls, girls that scream. Hear me saying...boys just don't scream that much). We started taking on some serious water. Once I slapped some sense into DH, who thought the whole thing was cool, he slowed down. By that time, we were literally in the middle of the lake and had to ride these waves into some serious sea sickness. Boy A was in tears thinking we were going to sink. Boy B was uncontrollably giggling and I was slowly turning green and praying I wasn't going to see that cold cut sandwich I ate for lunch.

Good times.