Angel Lake - The Plunge

At the end of our trip to Angel Lake we had worked up quite a sweat in all the heat.  Joseph and Brian decided they wanted to brave the cliff jumping available at the far end of the lake.  I decided not to join in the swimming since I had forgotten my own swimsuit in the midst of packing for the rest of the family but Roseanne and I and the kids trooped with them to watch the show.

Angel Lake, as mentioned in the previous post, consists of the runoff water from a glacier.  In fact, the kids were throwing snowballs at each other while they sat on the ice to watch Joseph and Brian jump.  The water is VERY cold.  VERY, VERY cold.  

Once we reached the far end of Angel Lake, the menfolk climbed some precipitously tall rocks to reach the place they wanted to jump from.  Luckily, we had a camera with us to document the craziness that ensued.

Joseph's theatrics:

One of Brian's jumps:

The view from there was amazing and the water appeared extremely cold refreshing, so I decided to venture forth myself - in all my clothes since there was no women's swimsuit to be had!

Audrey's attempt:

After I swam to shore I was definitely not hot and sweaty any more:

I must admit, the water was definitely cold.  However, it was fairly comparable with many other lake and river experiences I have had in the past (Yosemite, Colorado last year, the Alps, etc.).  It made me feel so much younger to be doing something so ridiculous.  What a fun day!

Angel Lake

About two weeks ago we were invited to head to Angel Lake with some friends of ours.  We have been meaning to go there for quite some time but our plans always fallen through for some reason in the past.  This time we took Brian and Roseanne up on the offer for a dutch oven picnic and fishing so we drove for about an hour west on I-80, got off in Wells, Nevada, and headed up the road to Angel Lake.

view from the parking lot

We found a marvelous picnic spot about 20 feet from the lake.  The lake is not very large and it is a very picturesque spot.  The water is runoff from a glacier and thus the water was very cold.  That did not stop our children from swimming in it occasionally when the heat caught up with them.

notice the snow on the edge of the water?

Our boys have been begging us to take them fishing for well over a year now and this was the first time we got around to it.  Matthew helped Brian reel in several trout but Joseph and Austin were less successful.  The boys got very good at casting and Matthew (our engineer) had dismantled Brian's fishing pole several times by the end of the day.  Luckily we easily recovered all the parts in the shallows and were able to put it back together each time.

Matthew's fishing experience: 

(can you spot the fish flopping around on 

the line in the second two pictures? 

you have to look pretty closely.  

they are right in front of him.)

Joseph helped Austin get things started:

Then Austin did pretty well on his own:

pretty decent view, huh?

Mostly Girlie just followed the boys around and played in the sand and water.

I reclined on our new lounge chairs and chatted with Roseanne most of the time we were there.  It was perfectly relaxing!

Missing the Point

After a long time-out this morning, Austin cheerfully resumed his seat at the breakfast table and condescendingly informed Matthew and Elizabeth - "while I was in my timeout I was praying for you guys - that you would be forgiven of your sins."

So thoughtful, and yet . . .

Thesis Woes

Austin: "Daddy, can we play a game?"

Me: "I'm sorry buddy, I have to work on my thesis."

Austin: "Mommy was fast at her thesis. Why aren't you fast at your thesis like Mommy?"

Me: "Well, Mommy's smarter than I am"

Austin: "Why?"

Me: "I don't know, buddy. That's just how it is."

Austin: "But she's not smart about animals like you are. You're super smart about animals. You know where they live . . . what they eat . . . you know everything about animals"

Me: "Thanks buddy. Unfortunately, being smart about animals doesn't help much with a thesis."

Austin: (Sighhhhhh) "I just wish you were smart about your thesis like Mommy"



(Sighhhhhh) Me too, buddy . . .  Me too . . .

Consternation

More Consternation

Non Sequiturs

My newest favorite thing about having literate (and imaginative) children is the random things that come out of their mouths (this, of course, began long before they began reading; its just a lot more informed now). I often wonder if I am being given a peek at a small portion of a much larger internal conversation, or if these utterances are really as random as they appear in adult-land. Perhaps you can shed some light . . .

*Take, for instance, this random sample of a few recent ones:

“Righteous people weren’t made when pirates were made”

“I think those people are following us. That’s bad news.”

“Do you know how many days it rains in October? Four. Is that right? Let me go check my calendar. I have two of them, you know.”

“Yep, that’s what Hercules rode – a flying donkey . . . with wings."

“I even know how to make clouds – vapor, water, and poofy stuff.”

“There’s no air in space. Why is that? Is it because Earth is hogging it all?"

I don't know what it all means, but I love it.



*If you pay close attention, you might get a close approximation of a cross-section of what we happen to have in the Childrens' Books section of our library (apparently everything from Adventure to Stranger-Danger to Mythology to Meteorology and Earth/Space Science, with a bit of Theology sprinkled throughout).