Lake Durkee on ice

This last week it was crazy warm around here; it even got up to 85F one day! Early in the week when it was rising into the 60s, I took the boys to look around the lake near Faith, after we had gone grocery shopping.

Yay water!

 

Josh's hair always grows crazy. I always think I'd like to grow it, but this is what happens!

 

The little lake was still half covered in ice, and we had fun tossing rocks out past the edges of the ice...okay, I'm the only one who could throw that far, and the boys were duly impressed.

wow mom! You throw like a super hero!

It's sad that the only way I can feel athletically awesome is to outperform my four-year-old. Eli napped in the car for an hour while we explored and had fun.

Then that Friday, Joseph decided he wanted to go metal detecting (yes, my dad gave it to him, and yes, he is way too excited about it) so we went back up to the lake and spent the entire afternoon there! Most of the ice had melted by this time, as it was around 75F. It was crazy windy while we were there-and the next day was much warmer- but we had fun getting out of the house!

We always have to commemorate the first picnic of Spring!

Eli gets his own picture..yep, he was there too.

Elora may look innocent in these pictures, but she was definitely being a Saucy pants while we were there. She wore her new rainboots, which are perfect for the mud. She however, thought they'd be perfect for walking in the water! More than once they filled with water and she was walking around barefoot, crying about the pokey grass and her wet legs.

"What? I'm just a cute little girl, right? Right?"

"Bwwaahhhahhahhaaa!"

At one point the kids found a curled up piece of chainlink fence in the water, and Elora convinced everyone it was a crab trap. I told her to not try and get it because it was way too far out in the water, and it was by a swampy muddy area, but apparently Elora didn't think I was talking to her. I left to use the facilities, and when I came back Elora was screaming because she was stuck in the mud and her boots were filling with water...again! Not only that, but Jonah had followed her and his boots, too, were stuck in the muck. As he tried to pull them out his foot popped loose and he got his sock all muddy. Joy.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

As the afternoon stretched on, Joseph searched around the grasslands for hidden treasures. (Apparently, he's actually in a vollyball court right now.)



While the rest of us explored the surrounding marsh. Yay for no mosquitoes yet, or this would've been a lot less exciting!



Eli loved being outside for so long, he even kept laughing at the wind blowing in his face, though I tried to keep him facing away from it.


 

It was a pretty good day.