Soaking Up Summer

 We went to the Kish's lakehouse a couple of weeks ago to enjoy the weekend with them on Long Lake. It was so nice to be there with good friends and all 6 of us, though I didn't get any pictures of all 6 of us together, for some reason. 

The night we arrived.

Karyn and Joe are so giving!

Ready for a ride!

Erik took a turn out on the paddleboard when the clouds started moving in. 

Then the sun came out again!

Jason and I went on a little ride around on the paddle boat, not to be confused with the paddleboard.

Victoria's been working a lot at Red Bell when she's not hanging with any of us or at the Kish's lakehouse which she has gone to 2 other weekends without us. She didn't have to work on Thursday and had been wanting to go to Lake Michigan sometime during the 6 weeks of her summer here, so we went! Unfortunately, Jason had to work, so he missed out, but the kids and I enjoyed a lovely day on Lake Michigan.

A beach lunch!

Soaking up the sun!

Boogie boarding

Football; and our paddleboard is out there with Austin on it and Victoria swimming next to it. 

They even tried skimboarding on the boogie board.

The damper on Lake Michigan for Erik and me was that we were overcoming some horrible rashes from poison ivy that almost prevented us from going. I am highly sensitive to that plant, as I am learning more and more. The last time I got it, about 2 years ago, I know I didn't touch it, but touched plants that were near it. This time, I was so confused when I saw a rash on my shoulder on Saturday morning. I thought, "That looks like poison ivy, " but I hadn't even done yard work, so I dismissed the thought quickly. When I saw a rash on Erik's leg later that day, I was curious. To my knowledge, he hadn't been anywhere with poison ivy either. But then I realized I hadn't seen him much on Thursday because I was preparing for Red Bell. Victoria said when she picked him up from his friend's house, he was in a field running around. So, he must have encountered it and scratched that rash, and then when he put his arm around me that evening, which I do remember his little hug, I got the oils on me. By the time this all connected, it was Sunday morning. That's when I noticed his rash and my rash spreading. I ended up having it all over both my arms, and even had new spots forming by Wednesday, despite the constant washing of clothing, towels, and sheets. I covered it up, scrubbed it a couple times a day with a special poison ivy scrub, and applied calamine lotion afterward. It was miserable! Add to that, Erik woke up Monday morning with it all around his eyes, which were swollen. It was behind his ears and on his neck and ended up spreading to both legs and his stomach a couple of days later. Monday, when I saw his face, I took him to the doctor and they gave him steroids. With him taking steroids and me not, it was hard to see who healed faster, but I just didn't know what was going to happen if it was on his face, so it was a good decision to take him in. During his last week of summer, for most of the week, he lay on a towel and watched TV. All he ate for a few days was popcorn and my homemade smoothies. Poor kid. I tried to do as much as I could to do what the other kids needed me for and to keep the household moving, but I was pretty uncomfortable. Even as I write this, I still feel itchy, though I am healing. 

So miserable!

This is when my arm was oozing.

My shoulder that started it all.

Another day, another rash, but this was a few days after it started to heal.

When the oozing stopped it started to look really red. The spot on my wrist is the newest one. 

When Erik and I decided to go to Lake Michigan on Thursday, we hadn't had any new spots since the day before and I really wanted him to get out of the house. At first, we didn't want to get in the water, but when we did, it felt so good on our rashes! Since I only sprayed myself with sunscreen because I was afraid of rubbing it around on my skin, I got a nice burn on my back which evened out the pain of the rashes. Erik wore his swim shirt but didn't get any sunscreen. His face didn't look burnt because it was already red from the rashes. I'm hoping the sun did more good than damage to our skin. 

So, we soaked up a lot of good water and sun this month of August and even soaked up some poison ivy, but hopefully, we mostly remember the better times!