Beach Bums

Earlier this week we made a trek to the Indiana Dunes State Park.

It's actually the second trip this summer.

I got lazy behind and never posted pics from the first trip.

Like last trip, we went with some great friends.

We got sun burned but had a blast in the process!

Beautiful day at the beach.

Chillin.

This wasn't a hole digging contest.

Diligently digging away.

There was some method to their madness.

Sand recliners!

Kids can be so creative sometimes.

The unlimited sand resource does help some.

And then you have to get buried, of course!

Buried from head...

to toes!

The kids just had to climb the dunes.

We made them wait until the sand was below the foot frying temperature.

Nolan survived his monumental face plant.

All smiles, all is good.

Playing with my camera attempting to get the clouds reflected in the sunglasses.

It was a really cool reflection...

The camera didn't cooperate.

My dad was always telling me to read the manual...

I guess I can't blame the camera for taking a fuzzy pic.

Operator error.

Rats.

Eventually, I played around long enough to get a selfie.

Proof that I was at the beach.

(Besides the tender-pink skin!)

Nolan seems to be getting good at photobombing.

Bekah the little mermaid. 

There's a story behind this giant hole.

Our beach neighbors from earlier in the day started this hole.

It was a dad's attempt at keeping his kids entertained.

Our group joined in the fun (as well as several others).

Jen and I both agree that this dad earned bonus points for his creation.

It worked so well it was expanded even after they left.

It ended up with tunnels that the kids would pour water through to make waterfalls.

It was a very popular spot.

Even Jen and I joined.

(Mr. Photobomb was at it again.)

And again...

The face of orneriness.

Some of the kids were water carriers.

Which turned into a water fight.

This was the precursor to the epic water battle that ensued later.

No pictures.

I was in the battle too!

Lots of water splashing.

Lots of laughter.

Lots of soaked people.

So we had this brilliant idea of heading to the top of the big dune to watch the sunset.

So all of us climbed the mountain of sand.

That means Jen and I climbed up too.

Just not as fast as the kids :).

Beautiful view.

My obsession with shadows.

The little tent in the middle was our place on the beach.

So thankful Jen had that canopy!

So our plan of watching the sunset at the top kind of fizzled out.

We climbed too early and got bored waiting.

And waiting.

So we did the only natural thing left to do.

Let the kids run down the hill (again).

I'm happy to report that Nolan stayed vertical this time.

This is my favorite.

Another masterpiece by the great I AM.

These last two are from the parking lot.

We were packing up as the sun set.

We were pretty pooped.

We'd been there most of the day.