It was a long winter for our family, but we made it. The last couple of weeks have been eventful. We sold our house in town and moved out onto Crooked Lake for the summer. It’s been great to wake up to the sun rising over the lake with the woods in the background. Evie and Alba are little nature lovers and love to be outside. They enjoy everything from picking flowers to chasing frogs to fishing and swimming. Both girls are developing a keen vocabulary and can identify birds, fish, and plants. 

Now that school is out, our joyous little family is out playing in nature every day. Here are a few pictures from the last week. 

Justine is snagging a nice workout on her SUP with the girls. We have a nice little sandy spot across the lake that the girls like to go hunting for clams and play “mermaid”.

The water clarity on the lake has been great this year with visibility hovering around 24 feet (which is best in the state of Indiana). It’s common to find large schools of panfish and to see huge bass cruising. The girls love getting towed behind me as a snorkel the beds and cruise for fish. Every now and then one of them will jump off and swim along with me. Those swim lessons during April are paying off with increased confidence!

Alba caught her first fish this year. She was able to reel in a solid bluegill. She has claimed one of my poles as her own. It’s an UglyStik, so it’ll last her a lifetime! I bought it in 2001 and it’s still going strong.

Evie is an early riser. She usually wakes me up and asks to go out fishing. After I brew some coffee and toast her a blueberry bagel, we are out on the lake chasing fish. We’ve been first on the lake most morning this summer. Evie has claimed one of my Cabela ProModels. She demanded that I restring it with blue line so the fish can’t see it against the sky. She’d heard me discussing line colors and apparently had listened intently!

Most of the days this summer have started with me watching the sunrise over the lakeshore and ended by watching the sunset in the West. I’ve been lucky to get out for a few casts chasing bass on my SUP after the girls get in bed most nights. Sometimes the fishing is insane, other days I come in without a nibble. It’s always worth it though…