Summertime is awesome, especially by…and in…the water.  Lucky to grow up submerged in the life experiences of a Lake Erie boater, and now a resident of a Lake Erie lake town…I have to say it’s a tough life to beat.  Splashing into the lake  is an easy trade for sweating it out on land.

With temps in the 90’s this summer, there’s no other place to be than out on or swimming in…the water.  My kids are loving it.  Brianne has mustered up the courage to hold her nose and go under water, and Lauren is happy to hydrate herself by lake water, alone.  Kind of gross, even when there isn’t a looming algae bloom.

This year, I finally feel comfortable enough juggling 2 toddlers to venture down the rocks to the beach at the end of our street to take the girls swimming.  It’s rocky bottom, but it’s crystal clear because of it on warm days.  The green slimy algae showed up a month or so ago, and on days when the water’s just recently been kicked up, it’s everywhere.  Mmmmm…nothing like the smell of seaweed cooking on the beach in 90 degree heat.

“Stinky,” my little 2 year old observed.

Yes, stinky.  Seemingly too much even for the fish lying done-so on the beach surrounded by it.  Usually when we can see green crap rolling in with the waves, we turn around.  ‘Stinky Water’ days.

In the age of water quality paranoia, I know have an app on my phone that tells me where it’s OK to swim each day.  Either that, or Lo will give me a ‘Stinky Water’ report.  Unfortunately, that one’s not as accurate.  I may have driven home the point a little to efficiently.

Lake Erie is shallow a shallow lake to begin with.  But, where the beaches are sandy or mucky, it turns brown when the water is kicked up.  Lo has that classified under ‘Stinky Water.’  It’s a little bit of a problem…because we swim at sandy beaches a lot…all summer long.  And there’s been a lot of ‘Stinky Water.’

After a trip to the North Side of Kelley’s to swim where it’s crystal clear…I thought we had it licked.  Lo swam and swam and swam…until we got to the sandy part of the beach.  No part of her body touching the sand at all…gripped to me so tightly I didn’t need to hold on to her.  Swimming back to the boat…fine.

Later that afternoon, we set her in the water in a different spot.  Sandy beach…’Stinky Water.’  It was so hot, and she had so much fun swimming earlier, she forgot about it and begged to splash in.

“This is fun!  I”m swimming!!!” little Lo happily screeched as she bobbed up and down in her life jacket.

Problem solved.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

Sudden shriek of terror.  Problem not solved.

Assuming she had swallowed too big of a gulp on the last wave that passed, I took her up to the beach to play, and she flipped out all over again.  Now, it was no beach and no ‘Stinky Water’ at all.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

There went my older one.  It was obvious something had brushed up against her leg as she was testing her swimming skills around the anchor line.  Easy explanation.  Right?  Good enough for her…off she swam.

“I just got bit by a fish again!” our friend exclaimed…followed by another friend…”Oh, yeah, they’re biting today if you stand in one spot too long.”

Seriously.  As if we don’t have enough ‘Stinky Water’ drama.  The fish are biting?  What on earth…

“Papa!  I swimmin’ and fishy bit me-ouch! Stinky Water!” Lo animated to Grandpa later on…

 

Needless to say, it took half a day of trying to dip her in as she kept her feet out of the water before she gave in to the hot temps and started having a blast in the water again on the 4th of July.  There’s just one thing I don’t quite understand about Lo’s theory.  If it’s too ‘Stinky’ to swim in, how is it not too ‘Stinky’ to bend over…without any other part of her body touching the water, mind you…to take a drink?

Happy Water Testing!

Megs