vacation

Daddy took a vacation a couple of weeks ago, and we spent part of it with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Rachel at their cabin. The cabin is located right by a lake, and having observed Elijah at a local pool, I didn't want to have to chase him around in the water. Instead, we brought an inflatable pool with us. We filled it up with well water (very cold!) and set it in the sun to warm up by the afternoon. Elijah, however, didn't want to wait that long, and was in the cold water way before lunch. We all sat around in chairs and watched him play, and he even posed for a couple nice pictures. My plan was working perfectly. The child was happily occupied in a safe environment, and we could relax and kick back.

Not for long. In the afternoon we went down to the lake having dressed appropriately for the occasion (see picture below). Elijah was fascinated with such a huge amount of water and kept signing water over and over again. Shy at first, he soon realized the fun potential of the place, but the life jacket was in his way. So we took it off. Contrary to my expectations, he didn't try to go deep. But he was rather unstable in the sand, so someone always had to be close by.

The result of this adventure was that the next day he refused to play in the pool. He wanted the lake, which meant one of us had to play the life guard. In the end, it worked out all right. Worn out by the sun and the water, he went to bed at a decent hour, so Ryan and I were able to enjoy the last Harry Potter book for a few hours before we crashed as well.