Reyes Family Time: Summer in Minnesota (lake time and boat time)

I've decided to do several blog posts about our month in Minnesota, since we've got so many photos and had so many great experiences. It was a month filled with so many activities and lots of great family time, and it is hard to put it in chronological order and tell like a story, so I've decided to break up the posts by the activities/time spent and talk a bit about each of those.

Although Miriam was a little unsure about the lake at first, she quickly grew comfortable on the dock, with the steps and with the water. She mastered the steps my dad installed to help her get from the dock into the lake, and she went "up and down and up and down" multiple times a day. We got into a bit of a routine every day, where we headed down to the lake after Miriam's naptime. She had a snack, got into her swimsuit and put on her sunscreen and water shoes before she was allowed to go into the water. When we were down at the lake, Miriam loved to fill her buckets (she has 3!) with water and rocks and sand, and then dump them out and start again. Towards the second half of our trip, she also started venturing deeper into the water and walking around, building "sand castles" (mounds of sand), and throwing rocks into the water. She also had a floatie/boat that she rode in sometimes, but most days it was kind of wavy, and she liked to stick close to shore when it was wavy.

She did fall face first into the water twice, but as soon as I grabbed her out of the water both times (I was right next to her), we all started laughing and clapping about her "swimming", and then she'd start laughing and say "I swimming! I funny!" She wasn't extremely interested in getting her hair/face wet and only did it when she fell by accident, but she did get into the water and wade around daily.

When Miriam was enjoying some lake time, I was taking advantage of other people being around and spending some great time relaxing on the dock, sitting on floaties, or reading in the sun. I also spent time in the water with Miriam, although she usually wanted to stick closer to shore when I wanted to take her out deeper into the water. :)

Here are some (a lot) of pictures of our "lake time" in Minnesota:

Miriam all wrapped up after an afternoon in the water!

Big girl on the dock

Building a sand "castle"

In the water with Grandpa on a windy day

Snack time on the dock!

"Party dock" time with Grandma

Gorgeous lake day

Miriam loved to fold the chair like this and then say "I not cold!"

Playing with buckets

"Up and down and up and down" the stairs...

Miriam's floatie boat

Miriam kicked her Daddy off his floatie...

Miriam, all "alone" on a floatie on the lake!

Paddleball with Nathan (look at me stretching for the ball - A for effort!)

Aunt Megan, Mama and Miriam (she waded in up to her shoulders!)

Beautiful lake photo (taken by Katie)

It turns out that one of Miriam's absolute favorite things about the lake was the boat. Not just the boat itself, but boat rides. And not just boat rides where she was a passenger, but boat rides where she got to drive the boat. She LOVED going in the boat and especially loved it when Grandpa let her "drive" the boat. (Except that she did really drive sometimes, at a very slow speed.) Considering it took Mario about 5 years in the family to get to drive the boat and he was probably about 27, Miriam driving the boat at age 2 is quite a feat! I distinctly remember the first time Miriam got to drive the boat. She was sitting in my lap in the passenger seat and Grandpa asked "Miriam, do you want to drive the boat?" She eagerly replied "YES!" and she stood in front of his seat and put her hands on the wheel. Grandpa still had his hands on the wheel, and Miriam proceeded to remove his hands from the wheel and say "Grandpa hands off. Miriam drive own!" Then she said "I go fast, I go fast!"

Another time in the boat, we had some extended family visiting and Miriam was in the boat when some cousins were tubing behind the boat. She noticed we were going in circles and kept saying "around and around and around" moving her arm in giant circles. After the tubing was done, Miriam got to go on a special boat ride and drive the boat. I wasn't in the boat, but it was reported to me that Miriam proclaimed "around and around!" and then proceeded to crank the steering wheel around to make the boat go in circles. I wasn't there, but it certainly sounds like something that our spirited girl would do! :)