Frozen Lake Michigan

A record percentage of The Great Lakes is FROZEN this winter. It is something people do in Western Michigan to go walk on the frozen lake. I remember doing it once in Holland circa 2002. But it seems risky to me. That being said, I like looking at the frozen lake. It's quite stunning. More on this in a minute...

The annual ice sculpture competition took place recently, so we took the boys downtown to see what was created. 

Ryan & Michigan

Me & Wine

Okay, back to the frozen lake... After perusing the ice sculptures, we bundled the boys up to walk the beach to get an up close look at frozen Lake Michigan. 

Down near the water/ice, the boys are standing on exposed sand. Proof we were still on solid ground. 

We walked out onto the water just a little bit. My thinking was that, as long as we stay close to the beach, even if the ice broke, the water is shallow. That helped ease my mind. (I'm a worrier, if you didn't already know that.) In this picture, Burke and the boys are standing on the frozen, snow-covered Lake Michigan. The boys had a lot of fun running around. They got a kick out of the fact they were standing on the lake. Can you just barely see that hill/ice berg way off behind them? Remember that...

Winterscape at Silver Beach

I said to Ryan, it's so cloudy and snowy, you can't see where the lake ends and the sky begins. He agrees, and adds, you can't see the "horizon line." Um...where'd he learn that term?

I mentioned that we'd adventured out onto the ice and my dad said that was something he'd like to do during an upcoming visit. So we made it happen! On February 16, we headed back to the lake with my dad, Steve, Joey & Christine. (My mom stayed with Caleb in the warm car.) 

This time we ventured out a little further, made braver by our previous safe, fun experience. Still a little nervous, though... Ryan and Evan walk out. See those little patches of ice. They like slipping on those. 

Joey & Christine

 Standing on Lake Michigan!

Me & My Dad

Don't have many of these pictures!

What's cool about him wanting to do this and actually doing it, is that a year ago he never would have been able to walk the snowy beach and icy lake. Let's hear it for double, full-knee replacement surgery!

Remember that ice berg way off in the distance a few pictures above. This time we climbed it. From left to right, Evan, Ryan, Burke, Christine, Joey, Steve.

Ryan on top of the ice berg. He was so close to the edge and it was quite a drop. Man, was I nervous. Christine and Joey are off in the distance behind him on the the other peak. Getting down was a challenge, people were slipping all over. I just sat on my butt and slid down, a better option than unintentionally falling, in my opinion.

Christine took this picture. She's up on top. Burke and Evan are down on lake level! 

The day after this frozen lake adventure, I read an article about 3 people falling through the ice at the beach in Grand Haven, which is about 2 hours north of here. If I'd read that before we went out, I'm not sure I would have been so adventurous. Nonetheless, it was interesting and beautiful and I'm glad we did it.

The following week, the temperatures were above freezing for the first time in a LONG time. Glad we got in our lake experience before the "warm up." However, we have since plunged back into a deep freeze. Evan declared he's "sick of the snow" and he wants to play baseball on the grass.

Here's our little family out on Frozen Lake Michigan. 

Our first family picture of 2014.

January Highlights

January was not super eventful - mostly defined by record setting snow and cold & chicken pox. 

The immense amount of snow has been astounding. Across Michigan, records are being broken for snow and extremely cold temperatures. Michigan has endured a harsher winter than Anchorage, Alaska. [Not exaggerating. It's fact.] We had 6 days of school called off due to dangerously low temperatures and/or snow accumulation. 

I actually enjoy the beauty of winter and strangely, I also enjoy shoveling. But part of me would like to crawl in bed and hibernate until mid-March. Luckily, I've had plenty to keep me busy during these long, cold winter days. And we've gotten outside a few times to enjoy some winter fun. 

January 8

This snowstorm resulted in school closings, extending Christmas break by three extra days. 

Ryan taking it all in.

Ryan up on a snow bank near dusk. 

Evan up on the snow bank, which is crazy high.

Evan takes a break, reclining against a snow bank.

Ryan taking a break, lying in the snow. Walking through it is exhausting when you have little legs. This happens with him a lot. He doesn't have a ton of stamina for the cold/snow.  He's mentioned wanting to live in Arizona several times this season. That would make some people I know very happy!

 January 18

We had some fun sledding down a little snow bank/hill outside our house.

Ryan's turn!

Ryan sliding at the bottom of the hill.

Evan's turn!

I "extra-larged" this one, because look at the smiles on their faces.

See, snow's not so bad.

Oh my gosh, this took a lot of effort to get these videos uploaded. [New computer learning curve.] It was worth the effort because their squeals and little voices are too cute. I hope you agree.

Ryan in action.

Evan in action.

In January, we also created as much inside fun as we could - including building this gingerbread carousel on January 6. Got it at an after-Christmas sale. Look at the boys' "thinking tongues", as I call them. Such concentration. 

On January 16, we were motivated to count piggy bank coins and dollars. Ryan did a great job counting the coins, and then we rolled them up in coin wrappers. He deposited the dollars he had in there in his credit union account at school. So responsible. They are both very interested in coins and money lately. Lots of good teaching moments come from that. 

Also on January 16 we discovered Ryan's chicken pox. On New Year's Day we were exposed to chicken pox and were on high alert for symptoms since then. Both Ryan and Evan had received one dose of the chicken pox vaccine, but cases of "break-through" chicken pox are common, called such because symptoms break through despite being vaccinated. Of course, Ryan developed a case of "break-through" chicken pox. In this picture he's itching his itchiest spot, located in his left eyebrow, right on the end of the brow by his nose. I'm glad I captured a chicken pox itch action shot.

Long story short, symptoms of break-through chicken pox are muted due to the vaccine. You get less spots, less itching, less fever, they don't last as long, less contagious, less malaise. This was the case with Ryan. He had maybe 15 spots, at most. Only 2-3 itched/scabbed in the traditional way. It was really not too big a deal, except he had to miss more school! I figured that Ryan attended school 22% of the days between December 19 - February 2 [days off include weekends, holidays, snow days and chicken pox days]. Needless to say, it's been tricky readjusting to 5 days weeks. 

p.s. Evan never developed chicken pox symptoms and, to my knowledge, neither did any of Ryan's classmates.

In other news.. January 19 - Evan built a fort with a kit from Nana & Lolo. We threw a sheet over it and he went inside the fort to play Legos. He is an expert face-maker.

January 28 - During our most recent set of snow days off from school, we brought some snow inside, since it was way too cold to be outside. [Also, quick shout out to my dad whose 63rd birthday was January 28.]

Well, that pretty much sums up our January! Snow & Chicken Pox. 

I don't like to complain about the weather, because what's the point? Plus, like I said, I don't mind winter, even a winter as brutal and relentless as this. That being said, I think we are all eager to see grass, shed some layers of clothing, and feel the sunshine. Here's to spring!!

Blog Back in Business

After many months of trying to avoid a big ticket computer purchase, we finally had to call it quits on our 9+ year old PC and join the modern age with a new iMac. 

I had been trying to make the PC work for a while now. I used it as little as possible, mainly for the blog and bills. It ran very slow and spontaneously shut itself down. But as long as I could get a few things done, albeit slowly, per computer session, I figured we'd keep plugging away on the PC. 

Finally, in early February, the computer didn't even connect to the internet before shutting itself down - three different times! My patience had reached a limit and productivity was at zero. We ordered a refurbished iMac and a few accessories. And we are finally back in business! It is such a relief to not dread using the computer. Burke loves it too (of course). There is a learning curve, switching from PC to Apple, but I've had some exposure to the Apple setup, and I'm a pretty quick study - so, off we go...

The old set up

Goodbye, tower!

New set up - Big screen, no more tower, wireless printer, wireless keyboard, and a wireless mouse that actually responds. (Cost was defrayed by some monetary Christmas gifts. Many thanks to those who contributed!)

I can't do a post with just technology pictures. I'll leave you with a couple wintery pictures from the last few weeks. 

Ryan - on a sledding excursion.

January 20 

Evan - at the playground

January 31

I have a few blogposts backlogged, so more to come... Woo-hoo!

Seriously loving this new computer!