OK, so I know that technically Saturday WASN'T Memorial Day, but the way we spent our day felt like what Memorial Day celebrations should feel like.

We spent the day out at the lake with friends. Their kids are the same age as our kids and are in the same Day Care class as our kids, too. The kids love each other, which makes for a much more enjoyable day for the parents!

As you can see from the kids' pictures, they thoroughly enjoyed the day -- Dominic's assessment is "thumbs up!"

The water temp was around 75 degrees. That was too cold for my blood. Eric and Thea both got in and skiied/tubed. Jon and I preferred the sunshine to the cold water. However, the kids enjoyed jumping off the boat and climbing up the ladder. Dominic got up the gumption to jump in to Thea who was waiting to catch the kids. Amara never got up the courage. She did, however, get brave enough to climb down the ladder. I even was able to convince her to let her feet float out and eventually let go with one hand and both feet. She wouldn't let go with both hands though. On her terms, she'll get there -- but the more I force her to "be brave" in the water, the more scared I know she'll be. As a water lover myself, it's hard to give her that independence when I want to just say, "SWIM!" but I know that in the long run, giving her the space she needs to discover it for herself is really the right way to go.

The kids also got to play in the tube when it was blown up. We placed them in it from the boat and Eric spun it around and around in circles. Giggles abound! That was as good as actually tubing for the kids. They also enjoyed watching Eric and Thea tube -- the waves bounced them all over the place (as is the nature of tubes), and the kids thought it was a ton of fun.

We had a blast. It was a perfect "start to summer" day. Rain threatened in the forecast, but only occasional sprinkles broke through to cool us off. I got a nicely reddened set of shoulders out of the day, but the rest of the family was more diligent about their sunscreen. The storms did come later in the day, so we were glad to have finished our day of fun! The kids were worn out -- fell asleep before we even got home. And they slept well last night, too! Can't beat that!