Beach?

I've noticed a debate between Michiganders (yes, it's NOT Michigonians) and West Coast folks. Michiganders believe that they have beaches on the shores of the Great Lakes. After all, they say, "you can't see across them." Michiganders connect beaches and large bodies of water. Californians who have relocated to MI don't think so. Beaches belong to oceans and have large and loud waves. Beaches are coastal phenoms; they don't belong to land-locked states.

Early fall last year we tried to squeeze out one more day of summer and we went to Silver Beach on the shores of Lake Michigan right after Adam and Isaac were born. Here are some pictures. You decide: Beach or No Beach.



Joshua and Josie were feeding the seagulls popcorn. We almost had the entire place to ourselves. We met a girl about Josie's age named Alex or Alexis who was a pre-teen drama queen. She and Josie had a good time playing in the water. In the background you can barely see a playground on the "beach."

Adam (left) and Isaac (right) about three weeks old. Adam got his toes in the cold water and winced. Isaac didn't want to try it.

Josie playing in the water. It didn't take her and Joshua long to adapt to the cold water. Do you notice anything behind her? Exactly, no waves. When we arrived Josie was talking about the "waves." I corrected her: "Those aren't waves, Honey. Those are ripples."

Joshua hand-standing on the sand. He was very good at this. Do you see way in the background a boat and a lighthouse? Way out there by the boat is the end of the pier. When Michelle was 36 weeks pregnant we all walked to the end and decided to jump off. I was volunteered to jump first. Then Josie jumped. Joshua. And then Mama! I jumped again and then Josie jumped one more time. From the pier to the water was 12-15 feet.

Josie playing in the water. Even though there were no waves, it was nice to be on what Michiganders would call a beach. Honestly, we call it a beach now too because it's hard to figure what to call it if it's not a beach and because, well, maybe are becoming a little more Midwestern than we thought. But in the back of our minds we know that you can't really have a beach in the middle of a continent.