A Day at the Lake

Last summer when we visited Papa and Grandma in Monticello, we spent an afternoon at the lake, Lloyd's Lake that is. You won't see any boats or jet skis on this lake, but you will find mud and LOTS of it! Oh and mosquitos too, which turned our afternoon into about half an hour.  It's pretty obvious who had the most fun and who cried the whole time because she got a little mud on her toes and fingers. She is so girly and I LOVE it! We are pretty positive that we are done having kids and so knowing that Haiv will be my only girl makes me cherish these moments more than ever. I would probably be okay to have a 4th if someone could guarantee me I would get a girl, but alas there are no guarantees when it comes to babies and the thought of having three boys to wrangle gets me biting my nails with a mixture of anxiety and fear, so three it is!

If I weren't so great with child, I would take them back for the annual Pioneer Day celebration in Monticello and we would try out the lake again. I know a certain little boy that would have no qualms with getting muddy a second time around. All those pictures of him smiling and laughing? That's Taj being a regular ol' big brother and laughing at his sister's obvious distress at having mud all over her. He's standing over my shoulder laughing at these pictures right now--such a boy! Sometimes I wish we lived in a small town like Monticello where I grew up. We've found that it's a lot harder to get into the wild up here in the city. Seems like we have to drive and drive just to find a trail to hike or a lake to walk around and even then, these places are crawling with people. I guess we took for granted how easy it was to take a 5 minute walk and be alone on the mountain if you needed some space. It's no wonder my kids never want to come home when we visit Monticello--there's so much to do and explore OUTSIDE! They never watch tv while we're there and it seems like we do too much of that up here. There is just something about growing up in the country that cannot be replicated in a city. If only it were easier to make a living in a small town!