Payson Lake Canoeing

Today was canoeing day, one of my very most favorite days of summer, and perhaps of the whole year.  We went to Payson Lake which is such a beautiful setting I can't get over how beautiful it is every time we go.  It was a calm, perfectly clear day, hot but not unbearable, even out on the water.  We had a nice lunch, we paddled around in the canoes and on kayaks, played a bit of cards, swam, and enjoyed being together in nature.  I'm not sure how the day could have been any better.  We needed to apply sunscreen again, which we didn't, so we are all a bit pinker than we'd like, but I still can't complain about how great a day it was.

Luke lost his paddle in the lake.  

He pushed it down as far as he could, and it didn't come back up again.

We towed him back to shore.

Blythe is playing peek-a-boo with Kal. 

He is loving it!

 Cousins!

Where's Cora?

There she is! 

Luke and Makenna kept calling themselves lake monsters.

 

Mikayla and Grandma Sue going out with all three of Mikayla's kids.

Brandt slid himself off the back of the kayak, 

and then couldn't get back up.

So he kicked himself to shore.

Playing cards.

 

The next five pictures are a series Mikayla took.  They are of me, trying to get on one of the bigger of the two sizes of kayak we've got.  They look so fun and I wanted to try, but really, I'm too big.  I thought I might be able to get the bigger one to work.  I looked for a weight limit, which I couldn't find, so I thought, 'Maybe it will work for a slightly chubby grown up like me.'  As is obvious from the pictures, it didn't.  All that happened was that water rushed in through the holes in the bottom as the kayak was forced down into the water, unable to float under my weight.  Too bad for me.

The water is not warm.

I got off.