At the lake with Pa

It's become somewhat of a tradition that my dad and I take the kids and a couple boats- (usually a raft, a canoe, and a kayak) and let the kids paddle around a lake for an afternoon.   We've been doing it for years.  There's a lake we usually go to (I forget the name) up American Fork canyon.

But this year, we decided to try a new lake.  It was fairly close, and would only take a few minutes to get to.

At first glance, the lake seemed pleasant enough.  The location wasn't as lovely as the one we usually go to, but different can be good.  When we arrived we stood on the shore, and decided it might be a little too windy.  Kayaks and canoes are hard enough to handle for kids when the wind isn't blowing. 

As we were mulling over our options, I took a few pictures of the kids, and after awhile I noticed some debris in the water that the wind had blown our direction.  At first glance it just looked like sticks and stuff, but then I was like "Hey! Look!  That's a dead fish! Oh! And there's another one. And that looks like a dead raccoon floating belly up.  Ew, gross!  I think that is a dead raccoon!"  And just then a giant rat scurried along the rocks near where Madison was sitting, and we decided we had enough and left.

Sometime later, we found ourselves on the shore of the lake we usually go to.

The older three had fun paddling around. 

Christopher refused to put on a life jacket and had no desire to get in a boat anyway, so he and I hung out on shore and threw rocks into the lake.

 He ate most of the fruit by the foot snacks I brought, and even managed to convince Maddie to share hers with him.

The only incident came when my dad lost his balance trying to get into the canoe that Zach and Maddie were already in.  My dad managed to jump to dry ground, but dumped the whole canoe in the process, and thereby soaking the kids and giving the neighboring fishermen a good laugh.