A day at the beach!

It's been a while since I've been able to blog. I can't tell if I missed it or not. Brian's been doing a nice, job, though.

Our big story today is that we decided to go to the beach. The forecast called for a "mild" day. We were forecasted to reach upper 30's, maybe even to 40 degrees! So, we packed up the family SUV and headed for St. Joe, Michigan. Why St. Joe you ask when we live so close to the lake in Illinois? Well, the ice gets pushed to the east side of the lake and we wanted to see it. I haven't seen it in years and Brian and Ben have never seen it. So, we headed out. It was pretty neat. We tried to catch it on picture and video. The reason I'm adding all the videos we took (yes those are three different videos) is because they all have different angles and I wanted to share them all. The ice reached out at least 100yards from the shoreline. Brian thought it was just dunes (there is sand sprinkled on top). No, those are icebergs! You look over top of them and it's a steep 20foot drop (at least) to the water below. It's been a long time since I've seen them that high.

I will say, once we got there, my Mom instinct did kick in a bit. It was a little nerve racking. But we NEVER took Ben beyond the railings. Never even considered it. I was even nervous about Abby being beyond the railing. By "beyond the railing" I mean, there is a long section of the pier that goes out without a railing. In the summer time, this is no problem to walk. Now there was ice totally covering the pier. It was actually more like snow, so it wasn't very slippery. I was just nervous that Abby would see that water beyond the ice and go for it! So, she had to stay on a very short leash all day. If you can see it, I even kept her on the leash while I took her picture that she was sitting so nice for. WITHOUT Ben, Brian and I did venture out onto the ice in alternating turns. It was silent! And BEAUTIFUL!! Totally at peace.

We didn't get to hang out too long. Ben did not want to keep his mittens on and his little hands were getting very cold, so we had to head out. Brian, Ben and I had some lunch at Clementine's Restaurant and headed home.

Ben and Abby bonded a little bit on the way home. Abby would lay her head on Ben's lap and both were asleep within minutes of the ride. It was so cute! Ben has been a bit of a nuisance for Abby. He does not understand how to pet gently yet. We're trying to teach him. Hopefully Abby will stay as patient as she's been. She just gets up and walks away.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy so far in 2010!!

Don't forget to email us your "fanmail!" Majorleaguebishop@gmail.com!