A cousin afternoon!

Thursday, July 25:  Kaity's been asking for WEEKS about getting together with Brendan. Since it's been such a nice weather week, I arranged for an afternoon for them to get together. We hung out at my house briefly, ate lunch, and then drove the very short distance over to Versluis to swim and play.

I was surprised to find that the lake was NOT freezing cold--we've had some very cool temperatures during the night the last few days. Thankfully, the lake was only moderately cooler than it had been last week during all of the heat. 

 The kiddos all got in immediately ... it took a little bit longer for me (actually, quite a bit), but I finally made the plunge and was glad that I did.

 I'm so glad that Emma likes it here! It has not been crowded any of the times we have come, and the water is super clear too. It sure beats driving to Lake Michigan (even though I LOVE going there).

 It was hugely helpful to have Emma be with us today. She is super good at watching over the kids. Both Brendan and Kaity had life vests/floaties on, so we did not have to be concerned how far from us they wandered.

 Here they are on the "slippery walk" and the "sunken dock" cracking each other up because it is difficult to walk here!

 This little cutie-pie girl (below) quite aggressively introduced herself to us by way of our beach toys, inquiring WHY we had all of those toys!? We kept her at bay for a little while, but she clearly was NOT going away until she could try out our toys.

 Emma and I were trying to guess her age, but when asked if she was THREE, she told us she was TWO. She clearly behaved herself like she was nearly FOUR (her speach and actions seemed older!), but she was just a tiny little thing!

 Her name is "ELLA." 

 We once again tried using our nets to catch fish but did not catch a single one!

 After swimming for nearly two hours, we "dragged" the kiddos out by telling them we had TEN minutes to play on the playground. Both Kaity and Brendan LOVE playgrounds.

 I know we were here longer than ten minutes, but Brendan and Kaity play SO well together ... we stretched it out a little bit for them.

 Kaity is a monkey and a half at the playground ... she can do almost anything as far as climbing, jumping, sliding ... no fear with this girl PLUS she has very strong arms and good physical strength.

 Two seven-year-olds laughing and playing together ... what is better than that?

 Kaity using her "tongue power" (below) ...

 This musical instrument was terribly out of tune ... cute idea, but NOT very musical. It didn't bother Brendan though!

 I loved this afternoon so much with these guys!

Thankful for these hours, these sweet memories, these beautiful grandchildren.