Warren Dunes

Guess what guys??? Kaylie and Derek are in Chicago this summer. This means they are within driving distance, especially if we meet up halfway. And that's exactly what we did on Saturday when we went to Warren Dunes.

Still rocking the front-facing car seat

The drive there was pretty good. I mean, we listened about a dozen times to the Sheep song from the "Stories of Jesus" CD my mom just sent Joseph, but it could have been about 180 times if he had had his way, so we lucked out there. Once we got there, we decided against going on any trails (it was just sand) and just hit the dunes and the beach.

We had heard from some friends that it was fun to ride down dunes in cardboard boxes, so we brought some along and lugged them up the dune. Once we got to the top we found some blessed shade so we hung out there for a bit before sliding back down. While we were there a park ranger came barreling up the dune in his four wheeler. Was he going to tell us off for trying something fun? He looked into our souls for a good ten seconds, looked into the souls of some nearby teenage boys for about thirty seconds, and then sped off, leaving a pile of sandy dust in his wake. Well, he didn't say anything, so we figured we'd give the cardboard sledding a try.

Um, it didn't work. At all. That is probably why he didn't tell us off. We decided to just sprint down the dune carrying the cardboard and then abandoned it forever in a trash can. And then it was time for the beach!

Thanks to the coldest winter since before sliced bread, the Great Lakes are still absolutely frigid. Even at this beach down at the bottom of Lake Michigan, I don't think the water was much more than 50 degrees.

Which meant, naturally, that Joseph loved it.

I took this right after he got in. Although it's ambiguous, that is a very happy face. Also probably hypothermic.

It wasn't enough for him to get in, though. He continually coaxed us to get off of the burning sand and poky rocks and "stam up" in the water.  Kaylie was best at following his orders.

Oh, that looks cold!

Hey Derek

Selfie!

He liked to fill this bucket with rocks. He also, predictably, liked to throw rocks in the water.

After a few hours of alternating between hot sand and frigid water, we decided it was time to head out and eat something. It was pretty hard to get Joseph to leave.

I think he's either saying "ride bus outside" or "get in the water" which has also joined his lexicon of "escape phrases"

This is when it finally set in that we were leaving.

I don't think a camera can capture the curvature of that frown.

We had to get a picture in our matching shirts. Joseph had one earlier but it got really wet.

Thanks for playing with us! We'll have to meet up again soon!