Icebergs AHEAD!

On Saturday, we traveled to South Haven to get our Lake MI fix and were pleasantly surprised to find out they were having their Ice Breaker festival.  

We then ventured out to the pier carefully making our way through frozen mounds of solid snow and ice.

It was amazing to see the Lake Michigan ice floes in the channel colliding into each other. 

There's something really powerful about seeing the mighty lake in the winter.  

On Sunday, the snow and wind began and didn't let up until early Monday.

The girls and Chris are home today with our recent recent storm.   I'm getting caught up on a zillion projects at work today.

Happy February, friends!
   

Cabin fever...

Another snow storm is brewing outside this evening.  Enough already!

Sunshine has been practically non-existent these last few months, and I've had a serious case of cabin fever while I've been home recovering.

 On Saturday, the sun made a gorgeous appearance and we took a 45 minute road trip to South Haven to view our frozen Lake Michigan. 

According to our local weather channel, the Great Lakes are 80% covered with ice.

  A truly amazing sight.   

 The ice mound that the girls are standing on is Lake Michigan. 

The fresh air and sunshine was perfect for lifting all our spirits.  Mom, I promise I didn't do any arctic rock climbing.
 

Checking off the summer bucket list...

For all the times that we've traveled with the girls along the shores of West Michigan, we've never taken them to Sleeping Bear Dunes.

My work sent me up north to our Traverse city campus Thursday night and and so we decided that before we came back home Friday, a trip to the dunes was in order.

Climbing the dunes was quite a workout.

It was absolutely gorgeous at the top.

Friday was overcast, but it made for a lovely photoshoot.

Splash!

As you can imagine, Josie was more than anxious to bring home all these rocks.  

She's my little nature explorer.

This has certainly been quite the summer to collect patches from our National Parks.
 

As we traveled down state, we stopped in Frankfort to enjoy one more view of the great lake.

Emma took this photo of the waves with her cell phone.  It was a gorgeous night on the beach.

Nothing beats a sunset on Lake Michigan.

I guess I can officially retire our summer bucket list. 

We've been very blessed this summer with many happy adventures.
 

Our week away on the big lake...

Our past week on the shores of Lake Michigan were absolutely lovely.   We rarely left the cottage or beach.  

 We had a nice mix of mild and very hot weather.

We spent most of the week building sandcastles... 

...flying kites...

...playing in the water...

...relaxing with board games...

...and indulging in yummy food. 

For nine years, we've rented this cottage.

 
I look forward to this week of respite, all year long.   

It's just about perfect.   Unplugged and all.  PS. It's going to take me a few days to get through laundry, email and my favorite blogs.  I'm anxious to see what everyone has been up to.