Sahuaro Lake

I never knew we lived so close to an actual lake, there are several in fact. I've always been under the impression that the closest lake was hours and hours away. I was surprised to see that Sahuaro Lake is only a 20-30 min drive just north-east of Mesa. I remember hearing stories from my mother about her tubing in the Salt River or swimming at the lake when she was young, but in our many, many trips to Arizona as a kid I don't ever recall visiting a lake. A friend from our ward invited the kids to go for BBQ and a swim at Sahuaro Lake. Joshua was feeling better, so he and I tagged along to get out of the house for a while. I try to do other activities with all the kids besides sit around the hospital or sit around the house. The weather is only in the low 100's now, it's starting to warm-up enough for swimming. Joshua had his Power Ranger hat to protect his little fuzzy head from the sun, but we lathered on half the bottle of sunscreen anyway for good measure. I know from first hand experience how bad a sunburn hurts, so I can't imagine how much worse it would feel to sunburn your entire scalp and we don't plan on finding out. The kids enjoyed swimming and were excited to cool off, but for me, the lake doesn't have the same ambiance as the beach. Growing up in Southern California that's the one thing I miss the most, the beaches - Mmmm...the smell of the sea air, the salty water, walks on the pier, ocean sunsets, but not so much the seagulls stealing your food, the sand caked in your swim suit, sand all over everything in your car or the sand tracked throughout your house. Joshua told me to stay close to him because he was looking out for the sharks - perhaps too much Discovery channel??