Lake Almanor, days 4-5

My last post covered Sunday through Tuesday. Tuesday night, Curtis arrived, an event much anticipated by Josh. There were parts of Sunday and Monday during which it was all Josh could talk about. Like last year, we eventually had to prohibit him from saying the word "Curtis" until Curtis arrived.
John and Curtis went out Tuesday night and had a fun time. There is not much night life at Lake Almanor, which is very quiet and low-key, but one of the guys John and Curt grew up playing with at Lake Almanor now owns a local restaurant, so they went to have a few drinks at his bar.

Wednesday, John and Curtis went golfing. Josh, Lucas, Gail and I went for a deer-viewing walk, and after naps, Gail and Gene drove all our gear down to the beach for us and I took the boys swimming. Although Rec 2 is only 1/10 mile from our house, we have so much stuff (toys, towels, sunscreen, swim vest, sometimes the rafts, water shoes, etc etc) that a car is necessary. Curtis and John thought ahead and left our car for us, taking Curtis's car to the golf course, but unfortunately didn't remember to leave the keys. So Gail and Gene drove our stuff down, and I walked the boys down, and we had a nice afternoon of swimming and playing. Gail and Gene played with Lucas on the slide while I swam to the dock and practiced diving with Josh. The slide is a two-person job with Lucas--one to take him back to the top, one to catch him at the bottom. He is very eager to keep going and gave them a real workout!
As we walked back to the house, Josh thought he saw a man in the woods and claimed it was Daddy. I figured he was just associating any man with "Daddy," but lo and behold it was Daddy! After golf, John planned to meet us at the beach while Curtis ran out for groceries, but again forgot our car keys and left them in Curtis's car. So he was cutting through a yard on his walk down to meet us when Josh spotted him.
I don't have pictures from Wednesday's trip to the beach.

Thursday, John and I took Josh and Lucas up to Juniper Lake in the Mt. Lassen national park. We have done this every year for four years now, and we always love it. There is hardly anyone at this lake, which is at the end of a 14-mile, mostly unpaved road. The lake was formed by a volcanic eruption that clogged local streams and rivers, backing them up to form this lake. It is pristine--so crystal clear at any depth. As you can see in the pictures, we had the place completely to ourselves most of the time.







There was a HUGE monarch butterfly population, more than I have ever seen in my life. One of the cutest and most amazing scenes was Lucas toddling through them, as they rose from the beach and fluttered all around him. Unfortunately, I could not get a picture of this (Lucas would just run over to me whenever I approached with a camera while he was with the butterflies), but it was gorgeous.

More pics from Juniper Lake coming.