Claytor Lake

Our family and the Freel family headed out to Claytor Lake yesterday. It's 30 minutes away and though we've lived here 5 years, last year was the first year we'd ever been. It's a beautiful lake and a really nice state park, where they have a marina, a few playgrounds, a beach and swim area (with dock and diving board). Last year we rented a motor boat and did some tubing and skiing and wakeboarding. We waited too long to this year to call for boat reservations, but we were still able to go out and enjoy the nice day on the beach.

Our kids didn't really get much of a beach vacation at Hilton Head, so they had a great time making sand castles and getting really sandy. And I personally would rather swim in a lake than the ocean any day of the week. We also brought a picnic lunch that we were able to eat at the beach. You had to be quick and grab what you wanted to eat before those sandy handed kids got a hold of it. Otherwise, everything had a crunchy, grainy texture. Mmmm. The kids got a hold of the cheese puffs bag right away and the sandy Cheetos didn't seem to bother Ethan as he crammed at least 5 or 6 in his mouth.

After a nap for Ethan (and no nap for Blythe - she just fooled us into thinking she was taking a nap until she decided to walk into Ethan's room then walk out and slam the door behind her thus waking him up earlier than expected), then we ate dinner and went to pick blackberries. There are TONS of wild blackberry bushes in our neighborhood and the neighborhood across the street. I think the combination of lots of rain and probably less deer around has made them grow like crazy. And they are delicious! Especially on ice cream...mmmm...

Blythe loves them and ate lots. Ethan won't even attempt to swallow one. So that's a little weird (that Blythe will eat something that Ethan won't). Unfortunately we found out the hard way that eating too many blackberries causes upset stomachs in little girls. I'll spare you the details.