Summer adventures

      One thing Aaron and I were most excited about when we had Joel, was summer. Summer in Nevada is hot and dry and generally uncomfortable and unpleasant (for me). But, it is also prime time to fill your free time with fun things "enjoying" the weather. (Or, doing anything to avoid melting in it.) And now that we have Joel, thinking up and planning our activities is almost as fun as actually doing them.

     Recently we have felt a bit of a slump when it comes to thinking up things to do. We are pretty tight on cash, and our usual go-to summer activity of swimming in the Truckee river isn't safe for Joel. With my mind being pretty focused on getting into shape (Almost 1 month of no pop! Woo!) I decided what we needed was a family hike to a nice calm body of water. So we planned a trip to a lake hotspot an hour or so away, surrounded by hiking trails of all difficulty levels. And hours into the planning, we changed our plan and decided to drive up to Lake Tahoe.
And then on our way out, we changed our minds and went with the original plan. (And when I say "we" kept changing our plans, I mean I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.)

     We had no idea how Joel might be with a long day out like this. He has never been to a big body of water, or spent an extended amount of time outdoors. I drenched him in sunblock throughout the day, kept his bottles on ice, and stole an idea from my favorite blog Marriage Confessions. I brought along a dry washcloth in a ziplock baggy and throughout the trip, whenever I thought Joel might be too warm, I took it out, wet it, and wiped him down. And he had more fun than I could have imagined!

     Joel truly is a water baby. Not content to just dip his feet or sit on our laps, he first insisted on standing while I held his hands and the waves lapped over his feet. It wasn't long before he decided that wasn't enough, and plopped right down into the water next to Aaron, trying to catch the waves as they came.
If you only have experiences with oceans, let me clarify waves. These were no surfer waves. They were barely more than ripples caused by boats in the distance, and raised the water by no more than 2 inches.)

     I'd known from the start he was a water baby. But I had never expected him to be so thrilled by nature. Flowers, the water fall, the river under the bridge, all amazed him. He swung his legs and jabbered the entire hike to the waterfall, and back to the car. He laid on a towel longer than I have ever seen him be content to lay, and stared at the trees and sky above him. I can't blame him. It was a beautiful day at a beautiful place.

     I can't wait to take him out again. Nothing beats getting exercise, getting into shape, and getting to have fun with your family at the same time.


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