August 7 Swimming at Karen's Pool

Saturday Afternoon/Evening:  I have a crazy amount of pictures to post from our swim over at Karen's! First of all--my dear friend, Karen, has made an OPEN invitation all summer long for us to stop by her backyard (whether or not she is even there!) and jump in her pool. I never took her up on that offer until today. I simply texted her the request to come and swim for a little while and she immediately responded with a "YES" and told me she might EVEN be there to see us! 

I picked Emma and Kaity up and off we went to Karen's. Emma had been here as a little girl, and I have shown her pictures of this very house, yard and pool--but she doesn't cognitively remember it. She was thrilled to be here. And Karen WAS HERE too! When anyone meets Karen, it is impossible NOT to feel absolutely safe and loved and provided for. Karen is a born servant. She would give you the clothes off her back in one second flat and never think twice about it. I'm serious. Emma and Kaity immediately loved her. Kaity had a distant memory of us being here a few years ago when we came over with Chris, Matthew and Brendan to swim. 

The pool is heated (yes!) and so it is as easy to get into it as getting into a bathtub. 

There were some other friends of Karen's there too for the first hour or so; so we got acquainted and noticed that along with English, they were speaking an entirely different language that I had never heard before. We found out that they are from IRAN and were speaking Farsi! Oh my word. It was super interesting.

We loved jumping off the diving board!

I've taken a few pictures of Karen's house--it's such a lovely place. In a few weeks, Karen and Scott won't live here anymore. The house as been sold--they were given an offer that was amazing and they just couldn't refuse it! Good thing they have a LAKE HOUSE near S. Haven that overlooks Lake Michigan. I have never seen pictures of it, but I can imagine it is very beautiful. That is where Karen will be living for most of the time.

I tried, without success, to snap a picture of the girls holding hands and jumping into the pool together.

The next few pictures were taken by Emma ... I like them very much.

Good job, Emma! Emma is hoping to get a good camera in the next few weeks. Her birthday is coming up and she is going to treat herself by purchasing a camera that she can learn to use ... and do a little photography of her own.

I just love these pictures of the girls relaxing ...

I'm not sure I could leave this beautiful place ... evidently the folk who bought it have plans to do extensive renovation on the floors, etc. Sigh. I like it just as it is!

It's crazy huge, isn't it?

We swam for THREE hours while Karen scurried around offering us everything under the sun. She is amazing. She served us delicious turkey sandwiches, so that we wouldn't have to leave early to fill our stomachs. She is so kind. We ended up staying until 7:20! I'm so thankful for this relaxing and happy time today.