stow lake

stow lake is a special little lake in the middle of golden gate park where we met uncle christopher, 

auntie annie, and her parents jano and david.  it was a splendid afternoon.  we had a fun time.

from the moment we found a lucky parking spot after driving around in a slow circle with hundreds of other cars on this sunny sunday, we had a magical time.  ezra picked a daisy right away and then followed the geese at the edge of the lake.

just like a character in his own fairy tale,

he stood on one leg like this silly gander.

we waited by the boats with jano and david until annie and christopher arrived.

it is always a happy reunion!

across from the lake, we found a little lawn to have a picnic on.  there was a waterfall on one side,

and some bunnies in a cage on the other.  it was just enough time to take in the scenery, 

have a little visit, and fill our bellies before it was our turn to ride on the peddle boats.

ezra was our navigator while indy and i sat in the back and daddy pedaled.

christopher and annie took charge of theirs while david looked dubious about their boat.  

theirs was sinking quite a bit in the back not allowing them to move very fast.

indy was anxious to be up front with his brother and as soon as i carefully 

maneuvered ourselves up to the front, we were moving really fast.  ezra declared a race!

but not too fast to take in all the sprightly green and tremendous trees surrounding us. 

we were all so happy,

and full of awe.

michael even took a picture of me too!

about the time we were nearing this bridge...

jano and annie traded places.

then ezra steered us right into their boat!  bumper boats!  

after going like this for a while,

annie, jano and david switched things up again to get their boat moving faster!

and for the pièce de résistance, christopher sat in the middle like ezra to steer their boat, 

while annie and  david pedaled on.  this did the trick to get them moving faster along, 

but we still won the race.

one of the sights from our boat was this little pagoda 

among the many blooming blossoms up here at this time.

back at the boat house...

it was time for some photo opportunities of a memorable day.

the ladies (and baby boy indy),

life vests for the littles,

and the men.

it's always a fun time with christopher and annie!