The End of the Drought

Last weekend my parents came for a visit. It was the first time they'd been here since helping us move in back in June. We planned for an afternoon out on a lake and visiting Cincinnati.

 
This lake is in Miami Whitewater State Forest, just about 5 minutes from our place.

Dad took the captain's seat and drove us around, exploring. It's not a huge lake, but it was pretty vacant so we didn't need that much space. The only thing we could find wrong with the place was the boat that we rented kept dying every few minutes, but we persisted.

Kyler spotted this Great Blue Heron across the lake. It was really far away, but I zoomed in pretty close. And when he flew away, Kyler told his "did you know that herons fly with their feet sticking out behind them?" story.

Oh, and Kelli came too. We broke out some snacks and drinks. Did I mention that entire week, the temperature had been in the high nineties, low hundreds? It was hot! A perfect day to be out on the water.

I switched over to sit by Kell so I would get some sun on my pasty bod. Working long hours, indoors, has kept me from my usual summer tan.

Then Kyler played captain. He drove us right over by a little cove and declare it was time to jump in. Look at that smile!

That boy had jumped in and made his way over to these fallen trees before I could even fold up my clothes and take off my shoes. Kelli, a fellow daredevil, wasn't far behind. Right as I was about to jump in, it started sprinkling. But by the time Kelli had made her way to the tree, the rain has stopped. I knew it was a false alarm. We hadn't had rain in probably 3 or 4 weeks.

They deemed this spot free of critters or nasty water, so it was my turn.

I'm not lying, that was the warmest water I had ever felt. It had to be in the 90s as well. I'm really picky about the water's temperature when I swim. I would much rather float until the water feels like bath water. And in this case, I think I have taken cooler baths.

Dad joined us  while mom played captain/photographer.

We headed back to the boat to get some life jackets to float around on.

And then, it started thundering.

And then, it started lightening and we jumped back in the boat very quickly.

And then, it started pouring down rain.

And then, the siren went off at the boat shelter.

And then, the boat died.

And then, it started hailing/raining really hard [and man it hurt] and lightening and thundering every ten seconds.

No kidding.

It was scary.

Everything we had was soaked, and poor dad was getting stormed on. He asked for his hat when we were floating in the wrong direction because the boat had died again on our way back because the rain was coming in horizontal and he thought his contacts were going to be washed out.

And then, we got back to the dock and hopped out of the boat as fast as we could. Seriously, avoiding being struck by lightning was on everyone's mind.

Mom told the guy on the dock that the boat had kept dying, and what should have been a five minute trip to the dock turned into a half hour long trip. His reply: "Oh, that must be the one we've been having problems with".

Unfortunately, our afternoon on the lake was cut significantly short.

Fortunately, we witnessed first hand the end of the drought.

Been caught in any rainstorms lately? Anyone else picky about their swimming water or do you jump right in?