Lake McConaughy – We L.o.v.e. You

When deciding to leave Texas the only place we really wanted to go was the beach. We couldn’t really get to a coast so when we remembered about Lake McCanaughy up in Nebraska, we couldn’t escape the heat fast enough! We’d been to Lake McCanaughy in July of 2007 and loved it so much we went again in June of 2008. We took a two lane highway almost the entire route and until I recognized a spot that I had once gotten pulled over for speeding, I thought we had found a new road for us. Then I had another déjà vu when we were playing in a park in Scott City, KS……It took me a while, but I recognized it as a park we had played in before! There are pictures from this park in a video I made years ago after the Unschooling Conference in New Mexico. There’s a picture of Jewel in the video hanging upside down right at a part where the singer says “You’re still free”. This picture of Jake also reminds me that they’re still free.

We ate at the Pizza Hut across the street, which is no easy task for vegetarian Jonas who doesn’t even want to step foot in a restaurant anymore, and doesn’t like Pizza. He gave in, had cheesy breadsticks and we all enjoyed the break from almost non stop driving. By the next morning we were terrorizing the beach!

Jewel wore her wetsuit so she would be warm in the water and Jonas wore his so he wouldn’t get a tan.

On windy days they’d try out boogie boarding, again Jonas is covered so he does.not.get.a.tan.

Other days they’d try their sand surfing skillz.

Then back to boogie boarding, mixed in with some sand castle building.

And no matter where we are, there’s always toad catching.

One day we went to the Kingsley Dam Hydro Plant, where we learned more about the history of the lake………

And what a big mouth Jacob has!

This first week here at the lake was like paradise. We were completely alone, and reconnecting as a family again. No outside interferences, be them good or bad, just back to us. No cares in the world for the time being. We did a lot of relaxing, both in and out of the water.

Some of it included cocktails.

Then that kid and their freedom thing pops up again………..