Honeoye Lake with our new neighbors

We had a family move in just up the street from us. The parents have three kids: boy age 8 going into third grade, boy age 6 going into first grade, and a little girl age 3.

I invited them to come to Sandy Bottom Beach at the north end of Honeoye Lake (honey-oy), hoping to spend a day playing in the water and kayaking. I also invited lots of other friends from the neighborhood and church, but apparently the Friday before Labor Day is just as busy as a holiday for most people!

We Bailey Girls were glad that thenew  neighbors were still up for joining us!

We loaded up the van with kayaks, noodles, life jackets, sand toys and drove to up the street to have the neighbors follow us to Honeoye and drove the fifteen minutes! to get to the lake.

Where we were immediately disappointed and grossed out. The smell was TERRIBLE and the water was full of blue green algae, which meant that the beach was closed. Bah!! This was the SECOND time we had tried to go swimming in one of the Finger Lakes and had the beach closed because of this rotten algae. What are people doing in these lakes!?!? I want more kayaks so we can go as a family to Hemlock- although we can't swim there, at least we could all boat across and hike up some of the gorges. Maybe next summer...

So, the new friends were total troopers and we hung out on the (nice!) playground, ate our picnic lunches, and then the mom and I took the kayaks out. This was the first time she ever kayaked and she did great! I felt awful that the water was so nasty. She was even brave enough to to carry one of her kids in the kayak with her! We picked the kids up on the beach shore (the boat launch was even more gross) and took them for a 5 min ride out and back. Her boys even paddled the kayak!

Not a total disaster, but we were all disappointed we didn't get to go swimming in the water.

First time in a kayak! She's a natural.

With her daughter, just floating.

She was nervous, but she relaxed after a bit and just enjoyed floating.
(Both mom and daughter)

Big brother was really excited to paddle on his own. He was lovin' the kayak!

Little brother did great paddling the kayak, and wanted to do it all by himself the whole time.

Watermelon, Capri Suns, cracker sandwiches... the kids good food as well as fun.

My girls played really well with the new neighbors.

It is SO HARD to get even three of them smile, let alone look at the camera!

What could've been a total disappointing disaster turned into a great fun afternoon. We look forward to playing more with our new friends!