Birthday Goodness

Yesterday was so much fun. We packed everyone into the car and were off by about 8:00, but it was a pretty long road trip with many stops along the way, mostly for Greta who would get fussy, but Anja liked getting out of the car and playing in the rainy parking lots. Our first stop was Vienna for some breakfast, then it took us an hour to get out of Tippecanoe county, HAHA! Oh well, the long drive was totally worth it. When we finally got to the Dunes, we stopped at the big visitor center where Greta got to play on the floor and Anja got to play with all the toys they had. She made a rubbing of a Marsh Marigold and was so happy to be running around looking at pictures of animals. She loves animals. The nice man at the visitor center advised us to take the scenic route to Mt. Baldy because it was a nice, quick drive (and he tipped us about a secret road that isn't pictured on the map!) and he thought Anja would really enjoy playing on the beach. So we set off, but most of the way down the scenic road (which was totally worth it) there was something going on... a house being built, or something.... and there were all these trucks in the road. We waited for awhile, and men came and went from the trucks, but nobody seemed to be in a hurry to move them out of the way for us, so finally we turned around and went back to the highway. It was okay, because we still got to see the lake and all the amazing lakefront houses. Also, it really wasn't very long back to the highway and then on to Mt. Baldy.
By the time we got there though (only a few extra minutes) both girls had fallen asleep! So we sat in the parking lot at the foot of the dune and let Anja sleep for an hour.... during which, Martin fell asleep as well, and Greta woke up! Greta and I moved to the way-back of the car where she was delighted to play on her tummy for a nice long time. It was sooooooooo cozy. It was cold and rainy and wonderful, and we were all bundled up and happy.

We woke Anja up after an hour or so of napping and took off down the trail to the beach. It was really, really pretty. Anja found rocks and sticks and thought walking through sand was very funny. The trail was through a woods and it was so pretty. Martin and I saw a deer, but I don't think Anja saw it. It was great. Then Anja got her feet caught in a wave and was wet and Greta was getting a little grumpy so we decided it was time to go. Through one very minor error, we somehow ended up in Gary, and that was a little frightening, but we eventually found our way out. We made a pitstop at McDonald's for warm coffee and a little snack for Greta, and most of the drive was very nice--we only spent about 40 minutes singing "B-I-N-G-O!" for Anja, who was thrilled to be able to get out of the car when we arrived at my parents' house for dinner.

Yum, yum, roast beast. And presents!!!! My sister made me some gorgeous earrings and my parents gave me (drumroll, please) and external hard drive!!!!!!! This is the one thing we needed in order to get our wireless set up!!!!!!!! I am eternally grateful. Or at least I will be, when we get stuff cleared off of our computers and are able to set up the wireless stuff.

Home for bed. It was a lovely day!