Lake Michigan... Without the Lake

Did someone yell 'SHARK' (or Asian Carp)?

Even though it is hot (mid-90s) and a bit humid, no one is going near the water...
The bacteria count was too high today, so health warnings kept everyone away.
Sorry Lake Michigan...

The sand is too hot to touch...
but at least the swings provide a minimal artificial breeze...

...Memaw and Hannah try to make the most of the situation...

What Goes Up...

Must Come Down...

Again, and again, and again!

Hannah, you are really loving the slide at Mountain Lake Park...
You like to walk up the 23 steps by yourself
(while leaning over and holding onto the big blue round rail)

The first five or six times up you march straight up the stairs,
At the top, you like to say 'Hello' to the other kids
Then you sit down and scrunch forward on your butt like an inch-worm
You inch yourself to the edge of the slide and push off with both hands
You like to lie back with your neck crooned forward
So that you can watch the descent through your toes

The next five or six trips up the stairs you take your time
Watching the other boys and girls, laughing and shouting
As they race each other up the stairs or crawl up the rocks
And then again as they fly down the slide
Some go head first, some try standing, some sit tandem
As you get more tired, the more they start to blur with the
Sky at the top, the sand at the bottom

When you finally get tired,
After more than 200 steps and 10 slides,
You remember to take a break
A nice backwards / forwards break
Where you like to meditate
- on the swings...

1st Real Snow (in Chicago)

Well, we finally got back to Chicago after our Christmas trip had to be put off. And while Hannah saw some snow last year in Chicago, being only One, it didn't really count (in our opinion). So she got her first real taste of the fluffy white stuff this January, and seemed to like it well enough. We certainly had the gear to make her quite the stylish snow bunny. Whether she enjoyed being over-bundled (walking and bending, and all movement in general actually, looked challenging...) is questionable.

Many thanks to the whole crew that hosted us during our visit -- Memaw and Boppa obviously, Eric/Joy/Jack&Kate, the NU crew, and the Matyas' Olympic-grade backyard hockey rink.