Last Weekend

Last weekend we headed back to the lake for one last weekend before I have to go back to work. Friday I got to catch up with a friend from high school who now lives in New York. Her little boy played with my little girls, and they all had a ball. The difference between parenting one and parenting a whole bunch are quite noticeable.... Lan would check on them if they were loud, while I only moved if it got too quiet. Their little guy is being raised in Brooklyn, so the lake was a great place for him to be -- walking barefoot through the grass, seeing the ants on the sand, the fish swimming near him in the lake. If it weren't for the huge thunderstorms that day it would have been perfect.
As for the rest of the weekend it was pretty typical:Big Al perfected her round-off, and then practiced cartwheels off the dock.

Cheesie tried forcing water through the noodles.... if you can perfect that then you can ambush sisters and parents.

Big Al took the little girls canoeing.....

Blondie built more sandcastles.
We all picked some muscadines from the vines out back (all of the pears have disappeared from the trees)
Brian and the older girls caught a crayfish for me for my classroom (mine died last year) but after playing with him for awhile we decided to let him go. This one has always been wild, while the ones we use at school are bred at a science company. This one was an absolute gorgeous red and black, and very snappy.

I go back to school tomorrow, and the girls go back next week. I'm looking forward to a couple more swim weekends at the lake, but not sure when we'll get back there. Hopefully soon.