Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'

...to be on the lake.

Turns out we travelled to the banks of Lake of the Arbuckles, which is a man-created reservoir in southern Oklahoma.  The Arbuckle Dam was completed in 1964 at the confluence of three creeks because of the serious droughts in the 50s which depleted the then-existing water supplies for the Arbuckle Area.  The result is a very scenic lake covering 2,350 acres and one the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation has rated as the best for bass fishing in the State.  The lake features 36 miles of shoreline and as an aside, 'it is common knowledge that Oklahoma has more shoreline than Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes'.  And like this one, apparently not a single lake in OK is natural, so there you go.

Sadly because of the recent droughts here the boat house that belongs to the lake house we were staying in (which was built by Marafiki's maternal grandmother's father in the 60s) is high and dry, as were the floating docks 50m down inlet (this time last year there was still 6ft of water at the dock, and a few years ago over 12), so we had to head down to a public boat loading ramp to actually get on the lake.

A grounded dock

Looking up the inlet - the covered boat house belongs to
Grandpa Gram but can no longer be used.

The house that overlooked the lake...

...until the red roofed house was built on solid rock in front of it.

Since Grandpa Grem could only stay for the day and we wanted to use his boat again, our trusty Dodge was dusted off and put in to action (though not driven by me).

Loading up.

The kids loved being in the boat.  I think it was probably the first time they (me too, maybe?) have ever been on one, and they were just grinning and grinning away.  There are ever so slightly more pictures of Joey than anyone else, since I was holding on to him pretty tight for most of the day.  If not, he'd have been down over the side trying to touch the water as we were flying over it.  No fear.

We soon landed at a wee beach and had some fun in the gloriously warm water...

Grandpa Gram

...but not for long, because the real fun was about to begin!

First up, the three year olds...

Such fun!

Until it's not!  Check out the faces.

Anything they can do...

Then time for the big yins...

This mean 'go faster!'

And after that my poor tired arms, legs and belly had had enough of bouncing and gripping on for dear life.  Time to head home...

Toots drove the boat most of the way all by herself.

That way!

Oh what a beautiful day for being on the lake.  And THANK YOU Grandpa Grem for a great house, fun boat, and the joy and interest you take in talking to, playing with, and loving on children.