Mike had the dreaded mandatory overtime today (BOO!) so I decided to take the boys back to Indiana Dunes State Park to take advantage of the parts we missed before. We left early in the morning because I don't do well with crowds or extreme heat, and when we got there, there were only about 10 other people we could see up and down the beach -- just my speed.
The water was COLD, but they frolicked happily for a while, and I set up our new Sunbrella (a hybrid tent/umbrella thing that's perfect for people like me who need a little shade) with the beach blanket under it. I felt very accomplished and prepared! Well, until a family of four came and set up right in front of us, and they had an umbrella and blanket PLUS a cooler full of juice boxes and healthy snacks, and everyone had sun hats and life jackets, and they had a bucket of beach toys. Seriously, it was like camping -- they had ALL the things. They probably could have just moved to the beach. I told myself that they were probably planning to stay all day long, until the sun set over Lake Michigan, but the truth is they had little kids, so they were probably only there for an hour or two, just like we were.
Eventually, the boys decided they needed a break from the cold water, so they hiked up to the top of a nearby dune. I opted to stay at the bottom and watch, so Liam took my phone with him and captured the view from the top.
After that, they alternated between running into the water and running up the dunes. Despite my lack of foresight and beach toys, they managed to bury Liam in the sand, which was fun until Max walked past and casually kicked sand into Liam's eyes. Then Liam and Henry devised a game in which they rolled around in the sand, then ran into the water to rinse off. Unfortunately for Henry, when it was time to go, he didn't think things through, and he rolled around in the sand one last time AFTER I told them no more lake. They had public showers to rinse off, but the water pressure was insufficient, so Henry got well acquainted with the discomfort of having sand in his parts. Live and learn, kid.
On the way home, we stopped at a nursery and got Mike's Father's Day present: a hibiscus tree! He's been talking about wanting a tree for the one remaining corner of the house that didn't have one, but he couldn't decide what he wanted, so we made an executive decision. It wasn't that we expected to buy a hibiscus -- the boys made a wish list before we went in, but none of the trees they had in mind were available, so we went with the one we liked the best. It's supposed to flower from July through October, so we can't wait to see how it does in its new home!
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