On Thursday, I think it was, we decided to go swimming. It was sunny, of course, and so Carlie and Brooke brought their beach umbrellas. However, the sand was quite rocky and we were having a hard time digging a hole for the umbrellas to stay in so Carlie and I used our engineering brains and used water and sand (I know it sounds like an obvious solution, but we felt quite smart when we figured this one out) and used the wet sand as a sand bag around each umbrella pole. We got all three umbrellas up and they stayed up until the sand started to dry..... All the girls loves playing in the water! In fact, Brooke's girls are taking swimming lessons. (Brooke will soon be or is doing so currently ?) Anyway, Brooke and Robert have tried to get Lauren to be braver in the water and on this outing Lauren actually went into the deeper part of the lake with Aunt Rachel. This was only for a few seconds of course, but baby steps is where it all begins. Little Eryn and Natalie had a fun time playing in the water with Aunt Rachel. Natalie loved the water and at times fell face first into it. But, no crying for her! She got right back up and played in the water again! Oh, and little Eryn went face first a few times too, but because of her swimsuit -- which looks like, because of the floaty devices inside her swimsuit to keep her afloat, that she has packed some heavy military amunition -- she bobbed right back up! Michelle had not trouble making friends with about 6 other boys who were making a sand castle. (Watch out for her Mom and Dad! :) 16 years old comes quick!) She played with them practically the whole time. Josh was able to get off work early and join us.