Lake living

A few months ago Erik’s parents realized their dream of buying a lovely lake cottage for sailing, swimming, and family gatherings. We flew out to visit last week, eager to see the new place and spend time on its pretty beach with them. Even more idyllic than we’d imagined, isn’t it?

Erik’s mom went to great lengths to make the house immaculate for her floor-fancying grandchildren. Also, in less than two months of ownership, they had completely furnished and equipped the place, from dishes to seating to child gear! Erik’s handyman genes are definitely thanks to his father, who was nearing the end of a tricky roofing job there. Can you see him ably perched on the peak?

Luke and Ellie spent many happy hours in the ‘toy room’ with Grandma and Grandpa. In fact, despite the two hour earlier time change, our typically late-rising toddler was up by 6:30 each day, tiptoeing past his sleeping parents to go find Grandma!

Here they are doing puzzles in the toy room,

listening to the ocean (in seashells) on the back porch,

reading books in the living room,

and going gourmet in the kitchen! (Luke’s wearing a shirt that cycled through Erik and his brothers in this picture, and a little robe made by Erik’s grandmother in the next one.)

You don’t think that these kids could have been spoiled, do you?

Of course the beach was a hit, from filling buckets and dumping trucks

to getting buried by Uncle Travis and Uncle Bryan.

The clear lake water was perfect for splashing,

wading with Grandpa,

and playing ring-around-the-rosie with Grandma.

Both kids also tried out new floats. Ella was delighted by her watercraft.

She astonished us by almost falling asleep in it a few times. What a little water baby!

Swimmies and a ring float came out to assuage Luke’s injured ego. A few weeks back, Erik and Luke filled our kitchen sink and performed float/sink tests on various household items. Luke extrapolated from the exercise that “Luke float.” After all, his “paddle, paddle, kick, kick” seemed effective during parent/tot swimming lessons in June. But at the lake he tripped and came up choking on water. Once his crying subsided he turned to Erik, wide-eyed, saying “Luke sink! Luke no float! Luke sink!” It was hard to tell which was more offensive to the little guy, the water in his chest or the falsification of his hypothesis. But after a few days of closer supervision and swimmies, faith in his initial conclusion was restored-- “Luke float!”

While we were there, Erik’s dad’s anchored his big sailboat to its new mooring. Luke was a little intimidated so no sails for the little guy this time. But I’m sure he’ll love it when he’s a little older. She looks at home on the lake too, doesn’t she?

You can find a boatload of lakeside pics from the week here. Luke’s already packing his bag for next year and we’re all looking forward to many more lake memories in summers to come!