Swimming in Lake Washington

I cannot specifically describe the moment in which my love affair with water began. Brad Paisley can pretty much describe how I feel generally about water.

"Inflatable pool full of dad's hot air
I was three years old
Splashin' everywhere
And so began my love affair
With Water...
All you really need this time of year
Is a pair of shades...
And a place to sit somewhere near Water"

Brad Paisley "Water"

This love of water has continued unabated into today. When the Ashton clan was in Seattle recently for the marriage of Keven and Karoline we stayed in a house on Lake Washington. As soon as I heard the descriptions of the house and it's location I knew that I would love it.

I mentioned to my extended family that I  intended do go "swimming" in Lake Washington.   They could not believe that I actually wanted to get into the water of Lake Washington. I'm pretty sure that most of them thought I was joking when I first mentioned it.

To be fair I probably should have clarified that when I said "swimming," I meant "splashing around in water." I had no intention of going out into the middle of the lake and swimming a mile or two.

Let's go swimming!

My audience

Wading in

Swimming

Father in Law ready with a towel

Getting out

Puddle Jumping

I've been looking forward to this day for several weeks. Today it rained. It did not turn into snow, and it wasn't cold.  Andrew was finally going to do something that every child should experience.

Jump into puddles.

 I had to demonstrate how to do it at first, but he caught on pretty quickly.



He jumped into puddles a bit deeper than I was expecting.

Of Gardening and Water

Inspiration.  Somehow Wendy caught it. I don't know who to blame more; KaLyn with her recreational gardening or Arden with his self-sufficiency gardening.  Either way, starting this Spring Wendy decided that some sort of gardening would exist. Now as we currently do not own the place in which we stay we were limited to pot planting.

Andrew has become an eager participant in "helping" his mommy with her gardening.

He helps prepare for planting

He chooses the right spot to plant

He waters the plants

He sorts the harvest

It's sad to say that Ben has not caught the gardening bug. Instead he has introduced Andrew to one of the other great Summer activities. Playing with the water hose.

Toothy Grin