Favorite Day of the Summer

We went canoeing today—my favorite day of the summer. Lucky me, I got two of those days because we went with the youth at the beginning of June. We went to the same place, Tibble Fork, because Payson Lake, where we usually go and like so much, is currently Payson Puddle because of the drought. There is literally almost no water in the lake. But there was water in Tibble Fork, though probably ten feet less than there was in June, and because it was low, there was lots of beach for us to set up on. We had to haul equipment farther, but our shade pop-ups were more easily set up, and we had more beach for the canoes. We had a great time; even the littles liked being on the water. Cora learned how to kayak on her own, Thea wanted to paddle when in a canoe, and Freya just wanted to be in the water. Blythe and Makenna disappeared up the river on the far east side of the lake and were gone so long we were organizing a search party. They returned with a sad tale of fighting unsuccessfully against the wind and being stuck on the other side of the lake for over an hour. Methinks they exaggerate a bit. Eat ate delicious snickerdoodle bars, were kissed by the sun, and chased baby ducks across the water. All in all, an A-Number-One-Primo-Good day. Only downer? We didn’t take a complete group picture before people left.

Brandt is wearing the life jacket I bought for him when he was maybe five.

We were astounded he managed to get it zipped and buckled.

Cora was paddling

Thea was paddling.

Mikayla was paddling too.

Guy did rope swinging off the side of the lake.

Because the water is so low, it was probably feet down.

Luke tried it too and landed badly.

The whole side of his body was red and aggravated.

Freya wanted in the water.

I held her feet in, but it was very tricky balancing.

I had to lean far to the left while holding her over the right side of the canoe.

The little boys collected a bucketful of dead fish.

There were probably twenty.

Before we left, they hurled them all back into the water.

Can you say, "Gross"?

I can.

Mother duck with Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, Quack, and Rack

The ducks were unafraid of people.

A surprise picture of my dad.

Nope! A surprising picture of Eugene who looks just like my dad.