winter beach

We took a quick trip to Michigan this morning. First stop was Lowery's, a small store that sort of puts me in mind of the Koontz Lake Supermarket, the little general store in the town where I grew up. Only Lowery's is known for being a huge meat market, and the store had the crowds to back up that claim. So we stocked up on dozens of pounds of beef, chicken, brats, shrimp, bacon, and sausage. Seriously, our chest freezer is full, and we shouldn't need to buy meat for months.

And next came the real payoff. We headed to Lake Michigan, found one of the neighborhood beaches where we probably (ok, definitely) weren't supposed to be without a pass (yes, we could have gone to Barb and Kevin's cottage and snagged the pass for their beach, but we just headed for the closest one and rolled the dice), parked, and headed down to see the lake in all its frozen glory. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but just never felt particularly motivated when it's so much easier to just snuggle on the couch on a cold day. I'm glad we went, though. It was so BEAUTIFUL.

We let the boys go down a ways and throw the chunks of snow/sand, and they loved it. We didn't think ahead quite enough to bring their snow pants, but next time we will for sure. They stayed on the beach for quite a while ... probably the longest time we've ever spent on a beach without a fight breaking out.

There was only one other couple out there, a man and woman walking their dog. I felt a little vindicated about breaking the beach rules because the entrance sign clearly said NO DOGS but the couple stopped and chatted with us (for an uncomfortably long time!) and when I complimented them on how well-behaved the dog was, the woman said it was because he was very familiar with the beach since they come there every day. Take that, beach rules!