June 3 With Kaity at the Beach

Saturday afternoon: When I picked Kaity up from Diana at 1:00 Saturday afternoon, it was 90 degrees in Grand Rapids. It had been an unseasonably warm and DRY week here in town--like zero humidity--which almost never happens. When it gets hot in W. Michigan, it's the sticky kind of hot--but that hasn't happened yet! However, when I checked the temperature of Lake Michigan, I found it was a mere 57 degrees. FIFTY-SEVEN. FIVE. SEVEN. Not a chance that I would be swimming in it!

However, dear Kaity (at least in the past) is undeterred by cold water. She just loves to be in it! She swims very decently for a young person who has never had a swim lesson. 

But ... I have a story to tell. Do you remember how I said it was 90 degrees in Grand Rapids at 1:00 Saturday afternoon? Well--when we parked the car at Pere Marquette Beach at 2:00, it was 74 degrees with a very brisk wind COMING OFF THE LAKE! I am not exaggerating when I say that it was COLD--the Brrrrrrr kind of cold! No wonder hardly anyone was at the beach! 

Dear Kaity. Dear, DEAR, Kaity. She went in the lake anyway. Thankfully, she did not beg me to come in with her. No amount of begging would have gotten me past my ankles!

I love our Kaity. I love to see her enjoy life like this! Being outside in the wide open fresh air is so good for her.

Kaity is soon to be eleven! THIS month! Four more weeks!

Kaity was in and out a few times. Let me tell you, if I had been brave enough to go IN and then came out, I would NEVER have gotten back in. Kaity was in and out quite a few different times! She did, however, admit it was FREEZING.

Here is another factor--look at the SKY! It looked like it was going to POUR rain at any minute. The sun almost never broke through those clouds. The seagulls were all agitated and soaring in the wind. Sand was blowing EVERYWHERE.

Kaity helped me secure our bedsheet so that it wouldn't blow away. She dug in the sand for quite awhile.

Kaity told me she was going to make a hole so that she could climb into it and get buried.

I attempted to build a sand castle -- but my sand toys are quite limited presently. I'm going to have to do something about that! I did manage to find a stray seagull feather and placed it in the top of my very pathetic castle.

We were finally able to bury Kaity (from the waist up) ...

I love these pictures of her.

Naturally, I took quite a few pictures of the LAKE. Anywhere the LAKE is and I am nearby, I am 100% happy. Kaity was convinced that at 2:45, we were just going to pack the car back up and return to Grand Rapids--but I had told her earlier in the week that if I drive all the way out to the big lake, I was going to stay a MINIMUM of two hours. She was not very pleased with this ... but I was not budging on my decision.

It did begin to sprinkle a little bit, so we did pack up our towels and gear and loaded up the car. Since we both had to use the restroom, we drove about 2 miles to the nearest McDonald's and used theirs. When I checked the temperature just two miles from the lake, it was 10 degrees warmer! How completely odd, but ... it does make sense.