Lake fun?

We had so much work to do this weekend, but with such beautiful weather and energetic boys we knew we had to get out for some fun too. The boys have been asking to visit a beach and go for a nature walk, so we scanned the state parks for water quality and swimmers itch reports and picked one nearby state park which has a large lake, walking paths, picnic areas and playground equipment. The boys were both excited - they don't really like swimming in the lakes, but love playing on the beach and in the shallows.


The boys played for ages, happily building with rocks and digging in the sand. G doesn't like to get wet much (unless in a warm swimming pool) but did wade and splash a bit. A loved playing in the water, seeing all of the other kids swimming and splashing around, and watching boats speed by pulling people on ski's and tubes.


As we headed out we found a spigot for a full body rinse and scrub down. After changing into fresh clothes we headed out for a nature walk. What a lovely day!


But, after we got home we found that A most likely got swimmers itch. We had checked the reports online before we left, asked about the water with the ranger at the check-in point, and looked for posted signs upon arrival. After all of that, we thought we would be OK to walk and wade in the water a bit - but still did rinse off and scrub dry to be safe. Ha. Poor guy. He has crazy itchy red bumps all over his thighs, bottom and waist. Hopefully the itching will clear quickly. I love that we live around so many lakes, but it is so hard when you cannot ever touch the water - with the algae blooms, flooding and ag runoff, and trematode parasites.

This has A interested in all the details and facts, of course, so we have at least a day of reading and research ahead of us!