We Went Exploring

Late last night I decided that today would be a day of exploration. We have stayed pretty close to home for the last week or so and I've been focused on house chores and errands mostly. Needless to say, we were all a little stir crazy, especially with Dale being out of town. So this morning, not knowing entirely what the day would have in store, I packed everything I could think of we might possibly need, loaded the girls and off we went. I had seen a park a few weeks ago from a distance as I was driving around and was hoping to find it and check it out. I was first proud that I found it and really glad because we had a great time. It was an awesome day with a high in the 70's, sunny, pretty blue skies.... I had to rub it in since Dale was in TX today in 100 degree weather!

This park is in Silver Lake. The first thing we had fun doing was playing on the huge playground. (You don't get the full effect of Hannah's expression until you double-click the picture to zoom in.) :)










Then we ran and picked up some lunch and came back to have a picnic on the beach! The park is on a lake with a staffed beach front. You can rent canoes and kayaks and swim.














One thing I did not pack was swim suits. But, I did have extra clothes for the girls, so in they went. Hannah was begging to get in the water and had a fun time splashing around.















Kaitlyn spent most of her time going back and forth between building in the sand...














...and running back to the water.










Here ironically, Hannah was working on a hill with 3 crosses "like where Jesus died", she said, when Kaitlyn tried to "help". Hannah didn't want her help and wasn't very nice about it. I actually went to take the picture at a sweet sisters-working-together-moment and caught this instead.














Kaitlyn's sandy face - the result of the altercation with big sis.














After playing at the beach for awhile, we decided to end our time at the playground. We cleaned up and were off to the swings.




























Although we all had a blast at the park, one of my favorite parts of the day was letting the kids fall asleep in the car while I drove for a couple of hours taking in the scenery to the tunes of Andrew Peterson. It was the therapy I needed. And this picture isn't even half as beautiful as what I saw.