Indepedence Lake

Last week, a few of our neighborhood friends were heading to the lake and had extra seats (hooray for kind friends with minivans!) so Niko and Miri and I tagged along.

You guys, this day was RIDICULOUSLY perfect (and that includes the sunburn I got!).  The weather was awesome (upper 70s), the kids were well-behaved and happy (including like 6 babies) and the company was wonderful. We also lucked out and had a section of the beach all to ourselves!

Nikolai was a little wary at first, but warmed up to the water pretty quickly. 

Before long he was super into it, shoveling and splashing for the next 4 1/2 hours with nary a complaint.

Miriam was awesome, spending most of the time sleeping in the baby carrier.

Note the look of hubris on my face. I'm certain I had just gotten finished telling someone, "oh, I don't think I'll put on any sunscreen. I never burn!" Hubris!

All the kids were so awesome:

Miriam got to play in the water some too, though I didn't get any pictures of it. In short: she loved it!

A snapshot of a few of the sweet kiddos (many had left by this point):

It is such a blessing to have such awesome people to hang out with! Thanks for being wonderful friends!