Mini-Vacay to the Dunes

We've just returned from a really wonderful BEACH vacation...in Indiana. Yes, that's INDIANA. Who knew?!

Ahhh...just spent the last four days in a beach community among waves and sand and seagulls all in our own Hoosier state - and our stay was awesome.

Delayed due to construction, we were unable to get to our hotel in time to do what we had orginally planned (having dinner with our friends, The Joppek Family), so we had to rearrange. Once we finally arrived at our hotel we quickly loaded up again and headed out for a quick dinner (Noodles & Co - we HIGHLY recommend!) and tried to catch the double feature at the local drive-in movie theater, The 49'er. What a great atmosphere! We'd never been (at least, not that we can remember) and it was obviously McKinley's very first movie at a theater, so it made for some great memories. We popped the hatch in the Murano, plopped down, munched on some popcorn and watched the movie (G-Force - which, sorry Disney, we don't recommend). It was late, so we didn't make it through the second feature, but we didn't care...we had a wonderful time and the pics prove it.

The next day the three of us headed to a small town called Chesterton for their weekly European Market. Cary and I joked that we felt like Ina & Jeffrey from Barefoot Contessa as we strolled through the lot taking in the sights and sounds, sampling cheeses and smelling gorgeous flowers. We ended up with some delicious blueberries, crusty whole-grain bread, herb-infused monterey jack cheese and some freshly baked cookies for an impromtu beach picnic, plus we scored some HUGE zucchini and summer squash to take home and a very large beef chew for Luther. I was in awe, this open-air market was incredible!

We took our yummy treats and headed to the Indiana Dunes State Park. As we made our way from the parking lot to the beach I was completely gobstruck at the number of people. For a second I thought it was 1999 and I was back at South Padre! It was packed! We made our way down, McKinley holding down the sand toys and such while riding in his wagon, spread our blankets and prepared for some fun in the sun.

We didn't expect to have THAT much fun, but we did. So much fun, in fact that we stayed ALL day. We kept reloading on the sunscreen and seeking shade under our little fort in between trips to the water. McKinley really enjoyed his new sand toys - a bday gift from the Joppek's, and loved building sand castles and sifting for rocks with Mommy & Daddy.

As the crowd cleared a little the three of us went out into the water where McKinley could easily walk out about 10 or 15 feet. We splashed and jumped and threw rocks and just let the waves rush in on us.
I didn't want to leave, it was gorgeous and relaxing. The perfect break we needed.







That night it was pizza and a swim in the pool - then we all seriously dropped! SO FUN!

The next morning we headed out to go visit with the Joppek's. McKinley and Lila had fun in the backyard and Lila even thought to share her smarties with McKinley. It was a nice visit and we were so glad to get to spend some time with them!

The rest of the day we shopped, swam and enjoyed dinner at our favorite restaurant in Valparaiso, Pesto's. YUM!

I just can't say enough about how much we enjoyed ourselves. I'm ready to plan our next trip to the BEACH!

Lynn

P.S. In honor of our sweet Lincoln we took this picture for his Mommy & Daddy, BECAUSE........It's LINCOLN'S WAY or the HIGHWAY! ;-)