Nebraska family holds annual reunion at lake

With record setting hot days in mid-June, Express staff members were discussing how to picture heat. A social media post suggested the National Weather Service should publish instruction about how to bake lasagna is a mail box. A mailbox oven might have solved their need for a picture but the weather service didn't publish the instructions.

An Express photographer went to the Superior Municipal Swimming Pool on Sunday afternoon expecting to find it packed with swimmers trying to escape the heat. Instead the pool was closed with a handwritten note on the door advising it would reopen at 1 p.m. on Monday. So that idea for a picture was scratched.

Growing desperate for a picture, the photographer decided to look for a picture at Lovewell Lake. From that outing came these photos and a story we found interesting.

The mother and daughter pictured were part of a family group of 25 people who had gathered at Lovewell Lake for an annual family outing. They came from Wahoo, arriving on Friday and were planning to stay until tomorrow (Friday).

Each year the family meets at a different lake. This year Lovewell was the choice for the first time in 12 years.

Because of the winds on Saturday and Sunday, they had yet to put their boat in, but with calmer winds in the forecast and continued warm weather expected, they were looking forward to weekdays when they would almost have a private lake to enjoy.

Our photographer chose not to wade into the lake and record the names of the youngsters throwing one another into the water. Earlier they were observed trying to ride a big float but because of the wind they had deflated the float, safely stashed it on shore the two older girls had retreated to lounge chairs on the beach but soon felt the call of the water and went out to play with the younger ones.

The photographer did get the names of the mother and daughter when they came in to talk. The mother is Christy Urban and her daughter, Phoebe, age 4, from Wahoo. With mother's help towing her out into the lake, Phoebe was all smiles as she rode the float back to shore.