Long Branch Lake

We thought today would be a good day to head to the lake. It is only about 10 minutes from our house, so the last two summers we spent quite a bit of time there. Today was not a good day because it was very windy and the water was freezing. Ella and I stayed in the sand and played.

Little Ella wasn't too sure about the sand. She actually never really grew accustomed to it, but maybe with a few more visits she will get used to it.

I think Brent was just stalling because he realized the water was going to be freezing. I really did feel badly for him, because I don't think I could have been out in it. Gracie and Brent swam for a long time, but finally we just kept a watchful eye on Gracie and we stayed on the beach. Wimps!

Ella was pretty content scooping sand for a long time.

Another mom I know was at the beach with her kids and she made the comment that Ella just had this expression of uncertainty. That expression remained on her face pretty much the whole time we were at the beach.

A close-up of Ella's confused face. The wind and the feeling of being gritty and dirty had her perplexed.

I just liked how Ella's sprout was standing up in this picture. The wind must have caught it!

Gracie loved the sand as well. She tried to make a sand castle with a moat around it. Therefore, she had to make several trips back and forth to get the water for the moat.

Gracie was freezing when she got out of the water, but it couldn't take away her pleased smile. She loves the lake!

It looks like Gracie was the only one in the lake, but she really wasn't! There were people everywhere, but somehow in this shot she looks alone.

Look at us, warm and dry on the beach!!!

Ella loves to clean out her toes, so you know she wasn't satisfied having sand in between her toes! Once she noticed it, she quickly got to work removing the sand.

I finally just set Ella in our big boat/raft. It kept her happy until we left. That way she didn't have to get so sandy.

One more shot of a wobbly Ella trying to navigate in the sand. It was cute to watch her kind of waddle around, trying to not step down too hard.

Maybe next time the water will be warmer and Ella can float in the raft in the water.

We had to drag Gracie away from her sand castle building. She was a pretty good sport, but would have played longer if we hadn't needed to lay Ella down for her nap. Ella was asleep 2 minutes away from the lake.