A Beach in Iowa

Some friends invited us to go to Kent Park to swim with them today. The kids had a great time playing in the water and the sand. This is an Iowa Beach, not a San Diego beach like I grew up on, but it will do.

Ammon wasn't so sure about going into the water at first. He preferred burying himself in the sand instead. He wasn't so sure about it being clean and the bacteria in it. He soon warmed up to the water and was going under having a great time.

 The boys saw their friends doing "chicken fights" and wanted to give it a try. Without anyone to fight Ammon really just for a piggy back ride! Rebecca was pretty excited she could go in so far with the boys.

 The swimming area in surrounded in these thick yellow tubes. The lake stays fairly shallow up to the 1st tube, then gets pretty deep out to the 2nd one. Ammon liked to sit and then stand and balance on the 1st tube.

Sand Castle building 

The kids started building a castle with their friends until they left. The boys kept working on it until they had 4 pools and a good sized castle. Rebecca decided that instead of building the castle she wanted to bury her legs. She spent a good 20 minutes putting wet sand on her legs. She asked me to get dry sand to put on top and the final touch. She was so proud of her buried legs.

While Rebecca buried her legs the boys started racing. They'd start at the back on the beach area run down into the water, swim all the way to the 2nd yellow tube and back. They did this a good 6 times and laughed the entire time.

 This has got to be one of the favorite pictures of the day. I was brave and took the camera out in the lake. Ammon was floating on his back and I snapped a few pictures of him. He was calm, the water rippled just enough to show movement and his lips stand out so pink. He thinks it looks like he's drowning, but I think it looks like relaxation.

Simeon, Rebecca and Ammon had such a great time playing and swimming. I had to eventually drag them to the van to go home. All that was missing was big sister Corrine and dad. Corrine's off riding horses at Girl Scout Camp this week and dad was at work.

This is a must do again activity. This time with Corrine and maybe even dad.

We got some white stuff!!

We have had such a mild winter here in Iowa. I don't mind not having alot of snow, but come on we need some to make the cold temps bearable. Today we finally turned white again with freshly fallen snow and it was absolutely beautiful. 

School was cancelled for the 4" we got because yesterday we were in the upper 50's and had thunder and lightening. The rain that came down yesterday turned to slippery ice under the snow, so they thought it safest to keep the kids home. Too bad the Recreation department didn't feel the same way, so Rebecca and I still had to head out for swim lessons. The roads weren't actually that bad, but that's probably because the plow had just gone down our road minutes before we left and we have a very main road 2 streets away that gets a lot of attention because of a big hill on it.

I found face masks for the kids for $4 at Walmart a few months back. Ammon has been living in his this winter. It got so stinky and he kept wearing it, so I finally had to take it away to wash it. I love how bright his eyes are in this picture. He was loving the snow, but not loving helping shovel it so he could go play in it.

Rebecca is warming up to her swim lessons. While she's in her lesson I went and walked on the treadmill in the exercise room for 20 minutes. It's nice to get some exercise in somewhere other then our basement!