Summer to me

As long as I can remember there has been a lake in my life.  At first it was Lake Erie.  I was there my second summer.  My grandfather held me in the back of Hoover Auditorium in Lakeside, Ohio during an important ceremony for my 'new minister' father.  It was during East Ohio United Methodist Conference.

We spent the third week of June of every summer there.  I loved that place--Lakeside--and still do. 

 I later introduced my children to it and they fell in love with it too.  If given a vote, they would choose that tiny town over Myrtle Beach.  I would choose Myrtle because I got more of a vacation.  There was one restaurant  in Lakeside, and the nearest McDonald's was a half-hour away. We had to take our own sheets, towels, etc. to any cottage that we rented.  It was not nearly the restful time for me, but I still loved the freedom we got there as a family.  It's a gated community, so our two kids could go off together on their bikes. Also, when on a tight budget, Lakeside was always affordable.

 There is a wonderful swimming and fishing pier there.  I learned to swim at that pier, and later in life watched my own children jump into the swirling water of Lake Erie.

Lots of good memories there. 

I didn't learn to water ski until my first date with my first husband.  It was on Salt Fork Lake on his parents' boat.  Later after we had been married awhile and our second child was on the way, we bought a used cabin cruiser 'on faith that it would run' (it was the middle of winter) and would spend weekends on it.  A rough ride one evening brought my son one week earlier than the doctor had predicted.

Eventually we moved on to Seneca Lake.  That's the lake in the pictures.  My first husband and I sold the cabin cruiser, bought a used ski boat and a tiny cabin that had started as a cement block garage and our summers were spent there.  We moved out there in the summer, and the kids and I would enjoy the summer days while their dad drove the 30 minutes to work and back each day.

My son and his family have a cabin not far from the one at which he grew into a teen-ager.   My second husband and I have a place at a nearby campground.

The tradition started when I was a child. Then it continued with my children. Today it continues with my grandchildren.  Family time.  The kids and their friends, extended family enjoying the sun, the water, the laughter, and sometimes a nap. At night we can sit out on the porch or around the fire pit roasting marshmallows and talk and laugh some more. 

Games are sometimes played. 

Monopoly and Garbage ( a card game) used to be favorites for a rainy day at our cabin (there was no TV). 

 Then usually a very restful sleep awaits.

We knew where our children were as does my son and his wife now.  They were/are in view, usually with a friend or two. 

That's summer to me.

I am thankful.

More on summer at  blog carnival---check it out.