A Day at the Lake!

One of the playgrounds at Cheesequake.

Cheesequake Park is about 5 minutes from our home...I can't believe we've waited 2 1/2 years to take the kids here!

Our Central Jersey Playdate group met there on Monday...There were four moms and six children and honestly I've never seen both my kids so engaged and SO happy!  Not only did Grandma come to help, but the kids were right around Julia and Mark's age (Marian's kids go to church with us, so Julia loved hanging out with Melanee and Brodee)

We hung out at the playground to get warmed up (we met at 10:30 a.m.) and then we headed to the lake!  It was an empty day, which also made it nice because we didn't have tons of people around us.  I did run into my friend Ellen who used to teach third grade at Timothy with me.  She teaches Kindergarten now.  She had two girls with her and they joined the fun too.

Julia loved being on the swings.

Julia and Mark liked the park so much because it was a big safe area with so much endless things to do and see.  There were swings, monkey bars, slides, benches, open fields, tons of trees, friends, her Grandma, and water to swim in close by!

Mark at the park...that would be a great title for a book.

Mark loves his new walking freedom!

After we did the playground, we headed to...THE LAKE...sand, and water, a child's dream!

Melanee and Julia were too cute holding hands on the way to the Lake!

We set up our blankets, towels, and umbrellas close to the water, and ventured in.  The water was not hot or cold, but perfect, and the kids felt comfortable to swim and splash, no one was afraid...not even Marky!  My mom taught him two new words...UP and DOWN, because he kept bouncing up and down in the water!  I've never seen him so happy!

Marian, the umbrellas were great...Thank you for bringing them!

I love summer days with the whole gang!

We brought buckets to play with!  We collected rocks and did lots of splashing!

It was great to have lots of moms to help.

Everybody stayed close together...but sometimes Julia ventured out to far for my liking...she's so brave!

So much fun!

 

 

Lake Lyrics and Other Poems

by William Wilfred Campbell

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TO THE LAKES
BLUE, limpid, mighty, restless lakes,     God’s mirrors underneath the sky, Low rimmed in woods and mists, where wakes,     Through murk and moon, the marsh bird’s cry. Where ever on, through drive and drift,	5
’Neath blue and grey, through hush and moan, Your ceaseless waters ebb and lift     Past shores of century-crumbling stone. And under ever-changing skies,     Swell, throb, and break on kindling beach;	10
Where fires of dawn responsive rise,     In answer to your mystic speech. Past lonely haunts of gull and loon,     Past solitude of land-locked bays, Whose bosoms rise to meet the moon,	15
Beneath their silvered film of haze. Where mists and fogs in ghostly bands,     Vague, dim, moon-clothed in spectral light; Drift in from far-off haunted lands,     Across the silences of night.	20   Mom, we love the Lake! Mom, do I have to? It was an absolute perfect day.  We packed the car at 1pm and headed home, by the time the car ride was up (5 whole minutes) both kids were fast asleep!  They slept til about 3:30! And they woke up very hungry!!!