Labor Day

What to do on Labor Day? Sandy and I have long hoped to find a place near our home to spend a lot of inexpensive time outside. This would be a place we could enjoy God's creation as a family. A place Sophie would enjoy, and we could enjoy being with her in her element. The swimming pools run by the local park districts (actually they're more like water parks) would cost us over $20.00 per swim. I have a very hard time spending money to be in the water, particularly having grown up swimming in the many gorgeous lakes and rivers of the Northwest. Most of the lakes and rivers here in Illinois are not swimmable due to their stagnant nature and muddy bottoms. There are many, many Forest Preserves and parks around us at which Sophie has the opportunity to meet new friends and ride slides. But with the heat and pregnancy, Sandy can only take so much chasing Sophie up and down the slides (and I do mean up, because Sophie's favorite park game is to climb UP the slides).

A couple of weeks ago we found that we could pay $12.00 to park at the Lincoln Park Zoo and walk across Lake Shore Drive to the beach at Lake Michigan. The beach there is beautiful and ideal for swimming. But the drive is 30-45 minutes, and with the price of gas. So this weekend I decided to research beaches on Lake Michigan. The first beach that looked promising was in the city of Glencoe. However, it too required payment, not for parking, but for entrance to the water. To make a long story short, we ended up finding a gem. Rosewood Beach in Highland Park. 20 minutes from our home, free, and beautiful.

Sophie continues to amaze her parents and those she meets with her fearlessness. Belly laughs were common today as she ran, yes ran, headlong into the waves. She would get splashed or bowled over, get up, and run back to the beach giggling all the way. She certainly became a sandy mess. She loved her feet buried. At the close of the hours we spent there today, I took her a little further out into the waves. As each one rolled closer, her eyes got wider along with her grin; she would lean INTO them to get soaked, giggle, and look out for the next one. When I handed her to Sandy so I could swim out and get the sand off in preparation to go home, it was all Sandy could do to keep Sophie in her arms.

In any event, we found our "spot". Without a lake house, a motor boat (or even a canoe), we'll take our little free beach and enjoy it MULTIPLE times a week until the leaves change color and the water becomes too brisk for Sophie to enjoy the waves.