Day 1.224: Once more unto the beach

We decided to go over to Grafton Lakes State Park - where we have visited several times in cold and warm weather. Today was only the second time we had been between Memorial Day and Labor Day when the beach is 'open'. Once again we found ourselves and others bemused by the rules - more than one parent was pondering why it was OK for their small child to play in the water as long as they were not wearing any sort of flotation device - but not if they were (unless it was a US coastguard approved one). Also, there was a sign saying 'no balls on the beach' even though there were volleyball nets set up. My sister suggested that maybe they were for badminton - which needs no ball!

After some initial sand-play, we had lunch at a shady table, conquered the 2.5 mile circular walk around the lake (it has previously beaten us), hired a couple of rowing boats for an hour and then returned to the by-then 'closed' beach where the kids got on with their own things:

Exile #3 and her cousin got lost once again in a world of their own invention:

Exile #4 built some late-in-the-day sandcastles:

And E5N1 made one more attempt to make sense of all those rules: