Summer Swimming

This weekend the weather finally broke and it’s like a certain type of freedom was given back. Like a weight was lifted. Saturday, I found myself running some errands so when I had down time, I just kept a low profile. At one point I was just sitting, working on my ipad and felt a drip on my leg. I couldn’t figure out where it came from, looking all around me, and then I realized it came from me, my knee to be exact. It was so hot and humid, the inside of my knee was dripping sweat! I also started realizing that I should rethink one of my ways to stay cool. It’s a great strategy, so simple but I was starting to realize dangerous. I cool down by ingesting something cool, specifically ice cream. I had a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and a pint of Italian gelato. A nice way to cool down, but I realized that it probably was contributing the belly pooch. Next heat wave I think I’ll switch over to sorbet. That’s less fattening, right?


Sunday I had a great time hanging by Lake Boon with Cece and the kids. I was worried it was too cool to really enjoy the beach and swimming. But really, it was a perfect summer day. It was just warm enough you weren’t cold when you got out of the water, and the water was all nice and warm from the summer heat. The kids and I had a blast swimming around and playing. It was so nice to just to hang out play in the water like a kid. There were noodles and kick boards and other floaty devices that made it entertaining. I even jumped off the dock, which wasn’t that much fun since I completely forgot how to jump into water. I really haven’t been swimming much these years. I jump in and totally get water up my nose and a contact slipped (but didn’t fall out). I need to practice that again but was pleasantly surprised that I remembered all my swimming strokes. I swam on my side and my back (I suddenly blanked on what those two strokes are called). And seemed to be pretty good in the water. Treading water after awhile got tiring but once I got my handles on a noodle, I was good.

At one point later in the day, we were all floating around in the deep section and I was figuring out a way to float on my back with a noodle under my legs. I was facing away from the beach and the gang, towards this one side of the lake were part of the land juts out. It was a picturesque, tree lined shore with the dock between myself and the shore - like something out of a movie. Except the sky was a little dark, ominous dark, like I was not in a fun summer time, relationship, coming of age movie, but the beginning of some Stephen King, horror film. And to make things worse, when I turned around, I found the gang had floated over to the other side of the swimming area. It was a perfect set up to those horror movies I love. Needless to say I swam quickly back to them before my imagination got the better of me. And the sun came out from behind the clouds and all was forgotten.

After, the kids and I were swimming around and Cece was still floating in the deep part. I suggested we sneak up to her and scare her - quietly swim over. The kids loved the idea, but just when we agreed on it, she shifted her peaceful floating and saw us scheming. She asked Cam what he was doing, knowing he was up to something because he was smiling so much. His response, “I was smiling mom, because your hair is so beautiful.” What a cover! And quick thinking too. Of course mom didn’t buy it for a minute and we had scrap our plan. It seemed like Maggie’s favorite thing to do was pull me around. I’d get a kick board or noodle under me and be able to float. I’d grab her swimming shirt and she would just trudge along the shallow part of the lake, pulling me behind her. It was a win-win, since I loved the free ride and she loved giving it.

All in all a great day, although Cece and I didn’t get much time to sit on the beach and catch up. Unfortunately, my water-proof sunscreen didn’t work so well. It might have something to do with me being too excited to wait 15 minutes after putting it on before hitting the water. I ended up getting burned on my shoulders and arms. Funny since I was wearing a bikini that my legs, belly, lower back and everything else didn’t get burned. But makes perfect sense since those parts were underwater most of the time. Nothing like the reflection of the water to amplify the sun’s rays. I put a nice layer of aloe lotion on last night and had to carry my bag into work by its handle (instead of on my shoulder).

The kids and I are hanging out again in two weeks and if weather permits I have a feeling we’ll be back down at the beach again. I’ll be sure to apply sunscreen properly. And I was thinking later in the day we should have played marco-polo. I was thinking of digging up some of the sleeping masks that I’ve been collecting from my flights. They’d make a good way to cut down on the peaking. Any other fun water games?