Sun, sand, and mud!

We had planned to spend our big four-day President's Day weekend in Big Bear until we were all awaked on Friday morning by a terrible hacking cough coming from Brandon and a nasty runny nose from Marissa. Plans were quickly canceled and the first part of the long weekend was spent home with sick kids. Luckily by Monday all was well again, but by then, Ryan had to go back to work. But Debi, Lindsey and Jordan were around to help us salvage the last day of our vacation and it was a perfect one! We went to the little local lake that is surrounded by a huge beautiful park and for some strange reason, given that the weather was in the 80's and it was a holiday, we had the place pretty much to ourselves! It was wonderful. The kids played and played and we sat and ate!

This is why we love where we live! Middle of February and hot enough to play in the lake! All the adults were wishing we had swim suits, too.

The beach was a little dirty because of all the rain we've been having lately, but it didn't slow the kids down. It actually just gave them more sticks and rocks and things to play with.

I was pleased to see that Marissa's swim suit from last year that I loved so much still fits! That's good, because I haven't had a chance to get her a new one yet. She was so happy playing in the water and sand and it made me really excited for many, many beach days this spring and summer.

Brandon was the bravest in the water. It was cold, but he just dove right in and splashed around.

And another one of my cute little girl.

While we were down by the water, Maylan went off to explore a little and came back looking like this. She said she wanted to change into her swim suit and she wanted to take Brandon back to a "special spot" with her. I should have been more suspicious.

This is what I found when I went looking for a them a little while later. Again, thanks to all the recent rain we've been having. Leave it to Maylan to find the mud hole!

They especially liked it when the mud started to dry and crack on their skin. Such fun to be a kid! Luckily there was a big lake right next to us for them to wash off in. It was a great day and even though it didn't completely make up for us missing our fun trip to the snow, it helped a lot and it was great to spend a warm day in the sun. I can't wait for summer!