My kids love to swim. They are like little fish. In fact, I have a hard time dragging them out of the water when it is time to go. But I should explain further that my kids like to swim in the pool... or in one particular lake. My kids like Forest Lake. It is lovely with a nice sandy bottom and no weeds and they can go out pretty far and the water is still fairly shallow. They feel like they are really accomplishing something when they do.
I figured I should give them a more well-rounded swimming experience so we tried a different lake this past weekend. We went to Bald Eagle Lake in White Bear Lake. I should have clued in when the beach area was only about 9 feet long by about 2 feet wide. My daughter who is part Mermaid, got in the water immediately but then said, "WHAT are all these white things floating in the water?"
That is algae.
BB asked if there were going to be leeches. I explained there are not leeches just swimming around...they like to stay in mud and grassy areas (or on the end of fishing lines...).
Pretty soon, the boys were having a great time, kicking and splashing away and asking me to throw them into the water. Peanut is enjoying his new found confidence and skills (with a little help of the "floaty suit") and is swimming around me. Princess was just standing, with her nose all wrinkled up. She tried to swim around for a while but when she kept finding squishy bottom instead of sand, the fun just left her. And she decided to get out of the water. I did get a little alarmed when I noticed that BB's eyes were getting redder and redder as he rubbed them after going under the water.
Princess looked inside her swimsuit and noted that she had algae all over her. This did not create good feelings toward the lake. I told her that when we got home, everyone would need to shower and we would throw all the suits in the wash. She was so disappointed because she did not get to swim very long, so we decided to go back to the pool (after rinsing off what lake gunk we could).
When we got home, everyone hit the shower. Princess took the longest shower she has ever taken in her life. I chuckled as I heard her singing through several choruses of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...". Peanut was even funnier in that we had spent no less than 2 1/2 hours in the water between the lake and the pool and instead of a shower, he asked if he could take a bubble bath. He will probably sprout fins and gills by the end of the summer, I suspect.
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