After Labor Day

We had a wonderful weekend visiting my parents. On Saturday, the weather was perfect. It was sunny and in the upper 70's, with a gentle wind off the water to keep the bugs away. We had a picnic on the beach while Ellie played in the soft sand, then we wandered down to the hard-packed sand at the edge of the water. The tide was beginning to come in, and Ellie had fun splashing in the surf. She kept scooting forward to get wetter. Grandma walked her out to the first sandbar and helped her "jump" over the waves. If you've never seen Lake Michigan, if you've never been to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, you can't understand the magnitude of this lake. The air was clear enough for us to see the Chicago skyline rising beautifully across the water. As always, we try to avoid looking due west. We all try to ignore "steel city."

Sunday was also perfect. The weather was overcast, and after lunch we headed out to Guse Christmas Trees. This was opening weekend for Guse's fall festival. The highlight was the enormous corn maze. This corn field - again, those not from farming communities might have trouble with the scope - was huge, 7 acres. We walked over 3 miles of trails before finding our way out. According the numbered map we were each given, we missed number 8. But we found number 6 about five times, so we figure we made up for anything we skipped. I just love the fall. Ellie slept in her stroller through the maze, so the highlight for her was the enormous sandbox of dry kernels of corn. Heaven.

This morning, Ellie got to go to the park for the third morning in a row. Then we visited some friends. While the adults were chatting, Ellie decided to stand right up in the middle of the room and walk to her daddy. Priceless!

Of course, she has yet another sinus infection and the trip back was a bit of a bear. But she's such a trooper. And despite our best efforts (read: inconsistency and laziness) she's making progress with her potty training. Now she tells us *before* she poops, and *as* she's peeing. A major step in the right direction!