Newman Lake

As a current grad student, I only had 1 week off between the end of my finals at Seattle U and the beginning of my internship at Explorer Middle. Steve set off for Spokane with a bunch of his buddies to celebrate Grant's bachelor party at Schweitzer. He met up with me in Spokane on Sunday evening and we spent the rest of the week at my parent's cabin at Newman Lake, which is just outside of Spokane (38 minutes door-to-door). We had an incredible time relaxing, swimming, eating wonderful breakfasts, walking, talking, drinking morning coffee on the dock, and introducing Lucy to lake life. She proved to be a great swimmer and loved wading in and chasing her chicken squeaker toy into the water. She hasn't yet realized ducks are for chasing, so they were safe this year. She enjoyed long naps in the sun and swatting the bugs away that interrupted her sleep. She got some training in a big field at the end of the road and went after the grasshoppers, which confused her beyond belief. We hope to spend more time at the lake in the future- I believe it's good for the soul. We miss our families already...

Lucy and her cousin Boone at Steve's parents' house before we left for Newman. Lucy looks up to and learns a great deal from Boone. She also enjoys tormenting him. Poor Boonie.

Lucy swimming after her chicken.

Steve and I both enjoyed Grant's wakeboard and the Connelly "Big Daddy" ski. It took me a while to get used to wakeboarding- I never figured out how to turn and spent the entire time screaming. Steve was much better at it and he got up on 1 ski for the first time! Bravo!

Did we mention Lucy got big?