An impromptu springtime swim

It is a gorgeous, gorgeous day today. It was a bit nippy to start - low 30's when I left for my bike ride, but now it has rebounded into the 70's without a cloud in the sky. The boys and I had a blast this morning - we met our friend Trish and her youngest daughter at a local pond with a beach. Obviously, it was too cold for swimming, so we brought a bunch of sand toys. I would say that the morning proceeded like this:

"Boys, let's leave your shoes on - stay out of the water"

5 minutes later, their feet and shoes are soaking wet: "let's take off your shoes. But, no running in the water!"

5 minutes later, boys are both running through the water: "okay, but stay where it is shallow!"

5 minutes later, Brandon completely trips and belly-flops into the freezing water. Starts crying because he's so cold.

I don't know why I thought I could keep them dry at the beach! As if Parker and Brandon are going to think, "you know, it's a lovely spring day but that water is still ice cold. I think I'll be sure to steer clear of the pond." Thank goodness, I at least had a dry shirt for him in the car, and luckily, his belly-flop happened right as we were about to head out anyway. Besides the cold ending for Brandon, we had so much fun. It was great to just spend the morning outside, and amazingly, Trish and I were actually able to talk with relatively few interruptions. We meet every week and sometimes we can barely have a conversation for having to stop and chase down a child. But, today was one of those perfect days when the kids were relatively obedient, and we were actually able to really catch up on our weeks. Just a great morning.