To Lake Michigan

  Do a post, Dawn! But I don't have time! Do a post, Dawn! But I'm too tired! Do a post, Dawn! I just don't feel like it. Do a post, Dawn! Nathan doesn't want me on the computer right now. Do a post, Dawn! I have too much to write about and not enough time to write it. Do a post, Dawn!! That has been the conversation swirling around in my head the last couple weeks. I think about it alot and hardly do anything about it. So today I'm just going to 'do a post, Dawn!'

Part of the reason why I haven't blogged is that I'm kind of in a slump and it's been hard to get out of. I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting a little discouraged with not being able to find a rental, thus having to come to the realization that we might be in the hotel for months, maybe years? I think I'm still trying to adjust to city life, hotel life, and life with a newborn again. So maybe it's just time to suck it up, take a "happy pill" (aka placenta pill...more on that later ;) and deal with it, right?? Baby is down for morning nap, and yogurts already in the crock pot...so maybe today's my turning point... :)

This past Sunday it was nearly 100 degrees out, 97 to be exact, and Nathan thought that it would be a great day to go to the beach! At first I was against it. Reasons-- 1) didn't want to drive to downtown Chicago, 2) out of the 8 million people that live here, I was pretty sure that 7,900,000 of them would be at the beach also and didn't want to deal with people, 3) we don't have a towel here or chairs to sit on, 4) packing for 7 people to go to the beach takes time, and 5) I don't really like sitting outside when it's 100 degrees out. But after some time I agreed.

I needed to go to the dollar store and find some sand toys and to Target to buy sunscreen and a beach towel. I didn't know how I was going to do that PLUS pack a lunch, get the kids suits, clothes, etc packed...but my husband so graciously said "I'll get everything ready and you can run to the stores quick. When you get back, we'll be ready to go!" Perfect...ANY time he offers to get kids ready and for me to go to store by myself, I'm all over that! Once I got back, we got everyone loaded up and headed East towards Lake Michigan. As it turns out, the same street we live on goes all the way directly to the beach! Seriously...it ends at the beach. The street ends in a parking lot and that parking lot is for the beach....we didn't get lost!...how cool is that?!

Brayan

Ariella (no, she isn't carrying a gallon of ice cream...although that would of been super yummy on this hot day!...we were using the buckets that we had:) and, yes, she is filthy!

**Kiss**....Nathan looks way too excited :)

So we got there about 10:45, put $5 in the meter for 5 hours of parking, and headed to the sand. There weren't very many people there to begin with...just some sprinkled here and there, but after a couple hours, they started to pour in! We were going to meet so friends there and since they came during the busy time, they drove around for over 20 minutes looking for parking and had to park a few MILES away and walk!...in the heat, while holding their 1 yr old and all their stuff. (poor guys!) They finally found us and set up their towel next to ours.

Building a sand castle

finished!

Jaeger chillin' in the stroller...which didn't last long. He was actually fairly crabby bc ALL he wanted to do was nurse and fall asleep!

After awhile, he FINALLY gave in and fell asleep. It was nice with the noise at the beach that no one (besides us) could hear him crying :) He still doesn't take his nuk--notice it next to him--but I still try. This time he stuck his thumb in his mouth and soothed himself...yay!!

With the shade of the cooler top and his ltitle stroller, he kept nice and cool (or at least not hot)

Lunch!

Can't even get away from advertisements at the beach!! This was a plane fly over with a banner flying behind...

Playing in the water

With the breeze coming off the lake, it was much cooler there, only about 80 degrees but the sun was HOT! Nathan put some sunscreen on his shoulders and on the boys' shoulders. After about an hour and a half, we realized it'd prob be a good idea to put some sunscreen all over his back and the boys' back. At that time I realized that he didn't put any on Ariella to begin with, so I slathered some on her too. Well, by the time we got back (we left about 3:45), we were FRIED!!! Ya know when you're at the beach it doesn't seem like too big of deal and then you get home and think 'what have i done?!'...yeah, that was the case with us. We were as red as lobsters! We looked fake bc we were so red. My face, back, shoulders, legs, and feet were so burnt; Nathan's back got toasted, and the boys' backs and Ariella's shoulders were pretty bad too.

Oops! nathan obviously didn't completely cover Brayan's face with sunscreen...

Ouch!! Nathan's red back...Mine was half like this too (bc of my suit) and so was my face...and I'm not posting pics of that :P

It is now Friday and my back still hurts to the touch, although I can finally wear clothes without major discomfort. I even missed playgroup on Tuesday bc I couldn't wear my bra and a normal shirt, it hurt THAT bad! Now it's just starting to itch like crazy...ugh. Major lesson learned...put sunscreen ALL over BEFORE you start playing at the beach!! (And don't sit out there for 5 hours when you're pasty white!)