I'm at Pine Lake in Sammamish. It's peaceful despite the clamor of a hundred kids playing in the water. Why is all that screaming and splashing still relaxing when the sound of two kids in a car can drive a woman off the road of sanity? My boys are tired from camp this morning. One took the swim test to swim in the deep end and the other one didn't. Now they're chatting across the rope, just floating in the water.
I'll admit that Teddy is a liability here. Someone has to attend to him. It was me until Nick asked me to swim. I was comfortable where I sat, even a little on the cool side since I'm hanging out in the shade. The swim area at Pine Lake is good for that.
Now I'm wet, almost cold, with water draining from my ears. My suit is wet as are the stupid shorts I wore to look respectable as an old woman in a bathing suit. Why do I have to drag around a baggy pair of shorts when I'm not supposed to be worried about how I look? It took me forever to get all the way into the water, then Nick and I jumped in a couple of times, then I figured I'd better let Adrian have a turn at swimming again. He looked bored.
Seems like I'm going to regret the timing because I'll most likely get dry before Nick wants me to have another turn at swimming.
I always miss things I should have brought the first few times I go to the lake with the kids every summer. The boys need a beach ball and I want fresh strawberries. My blanket was the one the dog's been lying on in the car and it's a bit too furry. I have the perfect blanket, but it's at home. At least I have a chair, snacks, and Nick's water from camp.
Ah, now the boys are towing each other around. The sun is slanting deeper across the lake, putting a kayaker and three people in a canoe in silhouette.
It made me remember the day last summer when Mike loaded up the canoe and we put it into the lake here. Mike and I paddled around the perimeter. I looked at houses wishing I had this one or that, critiquing the docks for the components I wanted, Adirondack chairs and a curved slide that would dump me into the lake. A diving board would be nice too.
After taking a turn at paddling, Nick fished. At first he didn't even get a nibble. We told him that the big fish are harder to catch because they have more experience with fish hooks. The sun sank to about this level, or maybe an hour lower, he caught a trout, one that was just big enough to keep. He was so excited. We all were. For a moment, when the fish flopped into the canoe, I thought we might go over. It would have been funny. Thankfully, we didn't.
"Are we going to eat him?" I asked Nick.
"No Mom, I think I want to put him back in the water so he can grow up to be a big fish. He's going to have a great story to tell the little fish."
Thank you for listening, jb
I'll admit that Teddy is a liability here. Someone has to attend to him. It was me until Nick asked me to swim. I was comfortable where I sat, even a little on the cool side since I'm hanging out in the shade. The swim area at Pine Lake is good for that.
Now I'm wet, almost cold, with water draining from my ears. My suit is wet as are the stupid shorts I wore to look respectable as an old woman in a bathing suit. Why do I have to drag around a baggy pair of shorts when I'm not supposed to be worried about how I look? It took me forever to get all the way into the water, then Nick and I jumped in a couple of times, then I figured I'd better let Adrian have a turn at swimming again. He looked bored.
Seems like I'm going to regret the timing because I'll most likely get dry before Nick wants me to have another turn at swimming.
I always miss things I should have brought the first few times I go to the lake with the kids every summer. The boys need a beach ball and I want fresh strawberries. My blanket was the one the dog's been lying on in the car and it's a bit too furry. I have the perfect blanket, but it's at home. At least I have a chair, snacks, and Nick's water from camp.
Ah, now the boys are towing each other around. The sun is slanting deeper across the lake, putting a kayaker and three people in a canoe in silhouette.
It made me remember the day last summer when Mike loaded up the canoe and we put it into the lake here. Mike and I paddled around the perimeter. I looked at houses wishing I had this one or that, critiquing the docks for the components I wanted, Adirondack chairs and a curved slide that would dump me into the lake. A diving board would be nice too.
After taking a turn at paddling, Nick fished. At first he didn't even get a nibble. We told him that the big fish are harder to catch because they have more experience with fish hooks. The sun sank to about this level, or maybe an hour lower, he caught a trout, one that was just big enough to keep. He was so excited. We all were. For a moment, when the fish flopped into the canoe, I thought we might go over. It would have been funny. Thankfully, we didn't.
"Are we going to eat him?" I asked Nick.
"No Mom, I think I want to put him back in the water so he can grow up to be a big fish. He's going to have a great story to tell the little fish."
Thank you for listening, jb
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