Down the Dunes to the Beach

Part of our trip to the Indiana Dunes was spent enjoying the sand and the water. We hiked a short trail over some dunes to get to the beach of Lake Michigan. We took off our shoes and hiked barefoot down the trail. Noah did a great job running down the dunes. He kept falling and just getting right back up.

For a few minutes, we felt as though we had left Indiana and were somewhere along an ocean. We all kept saying how much it didn't feel like Indiana anymore! It is truly a beautiful sight on these trails that overlook the lake. We could even see the shoreline of Chicago in the distance.

Despite the cool temperatures, the boys were excited to play in the sand and water. Isaac especially loved splashing into the cold water on the beach. That child is fearless. Jason and I took turns keeping him from just plunging right into the lake.

Noah got buried in the sand! He was all smiles for a while until suddenly he couldn't escape. He realized he was actually trapped. :)

Andrew and Melody have an annual pass to the Dunes state park. It wasn't really a great day for swimming, so everyone just hung out and played with the little boys.

We finally had to put a shirt on Isaac as he was turning a shade of purple and shivering from going into the water again and again. He was happy to eat big handfuls of sand as well as make himself a sticky, sandy mess.

I love my husband. This summer we celebrate our 7th anniversary. Marriage is not always easy, but it is a wonderful blessing.

I'm so glad it worked out for Melody and Andrew to join us on this trip! Melody is such a great friend and sister.

We all had a great time at the beach. Noah and Isaac were cracking up at Andrew's attempts to make them look at the camera to smile.

Indiana Dunes Camping (more later)

Here are some of the pictures from our camping trip at the Indiana Dunes this past weekend. We stayed for two nights in a tent and had many fun experiences (along with a few not-so-fun ones). Andrew and Melody joined us with a tent of their own.

We enjoyed a lot of time cooking around a campfire. In fact, all but one of the meals we ate on the campsite were cooked over the fire (even pancakes and eggs!). We forgot to bring our griddle power cord, so cooked our pancakes in the sandwich cooker sticks over the fire! The biggest challenge with a campfire for us was keeping the toddler away from it.

Isaac loved playing in the tent and with the head lamp. He is like his daddy! We did have to spend some extra time in the tent the first afternoon/evening as it rained some. That was not super pleasant, but we survived.

The boys figured out where to find food, as we pretty much lived out of the back of our car for a few days! I really mean we lived out of it...our car battery died because we constantly opened and left open the back door!

Our camp fare was varied and pretty good. We enjoyed haystack tacos, hobo dinners (meat and potatoes in aluminum on the fire), hot dogs, pancakes, turkey bacon, eggs, and of course...PBJs. Jason determined that camping is not very healthy as we consumed inordinate amounts of chocolate and marshmallows.

Isaac found himself an Isaac-sized chair and munched on some pretzels.

Thanks to Andrew's friend who gave us all the firewood so we could cook so many meals on the fire.

We had fun hiking both days at the Dunes. Figuring out how to transport both boys with just one hiking backpack became a little challenge. We traded them in and out of the hiking backpack and on and off people's backs. Andrew helped by carrying one of the boys from time to time, and Noah walked quite a bit also. Isaac fell asleep both times we hiked with him in the backpack.

We collected some ticks from our hiking trip. Well, I say "we" but it was really just Noah. Thankfully Jason was able to remove them with tweezers.

Hiking about 4 miles over hills in sand with 30 pounds of dead weight on your back is a good workout!

More to come...

Fishing

We spent the afternoon on Father's Day with the Liechty side of the family, enjoying great food, good conversation, and fun times of fishing!

Noah is learning how to share things with Isaac. Isaac "asks" for them by opening his mouth to take a bite! Both boys loved being at Grandma Betty's house.

Noah had a blast fishing. Noah was convinced that his fake plastic fish was a real fish. He kept saying, "I got one, guys!" every time after reeling in his line!

Jason caught two little fish. In fact, most everyone casting a real hook caught a few fish. And Grandpa Liechty also caught the bottom of the pond!

Noah loved sharing his fishing pole and playing with his second cousin Leah, who is about the same age. Leah spent the afternoon fishing and eating popsicles with Noah.