Sunday, June 14, 2009

Swimming at the lake

This was probably the first true "lake visit" for Bea. My parents have a cabin and we went there last year, but she only hung out in a toy pool, not the real thing as she was just over one at the time.

With the unusual heat today (it actually went over the average high) we ran off for an hour to take a splash because Bea has been asking us to go swimming since her swim lessons (with Melissa when I was at school) ended about 6 weeks ago.

We went to Lake Nokomis for an hour or so after her nap. From a two year old's perspective, it was perfect. Good people watching, lots of dogs, dogs swimming!, ducks, low flying airplanes (from the nearby runways at the airport), boats, occasional motorcycles and a lake!

I have the primary role as the "parental kid tosser". I took turns throwing Bea up in the air (and catching her of course) and jumping up together and splashing (without going under). She liked them both equally. Since it's been a cold summer and it's mid-June the water temperature was cold. Thus Bea was shivering uncontrollably and her lips starting turning blue but she didn't want to stop getting tossed in the air or get out of the water. Having her cling to my chest with a huge grin and laughing consistently was a memory I hope to cherish forever.

We did make her take a couple of breaks (and a mandatory beach timeout from the lifeguards helped). We focused on making our first sand castle as a team. Mostly it was Dad running water for making the sand moist, Melissa was the sand scooper and I unpacked the sand from the forms. Bea was an assistant waterer and we did our best to keep her from washing out our creations. Bea was interested in pouring water anywhere, the sand castle didn't matter much.

There were kids running into the water from the beach and diving in. Bea decided to do that and did a great face first dive, with a full spread eagle (arms extended out right), in about two inches of water. The crying was quickly subsided by some quick tossing in the air and into the water. Melissa and I did our best not to offend her by laughing too loudly. I don't know if she was crying because it hurt or her ego was hurt. It was extremely funny because the form was perfect but the location, not so much. She just froze there, laying on her stomach, arms outstretched, and was trying to figure out what just happened and what went wrong.

It all lasted probably a little more than an hour, but the memories and fun were bountiful.

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