Gulls...

...enjoying the brisk breeze. Mae wanted so badly to go to the beach area to find more rocks to paint, and I told her it was below freezing (27F,  -2.7C). She said she doesn't get cold, so on the way to take her home we stopped at the beach. I was taking some pictures while she picked up rocks, and in less than 10 minutes she asked if we could go because she was freezing....so was I!  It wouldn't have been as bad if the wind off the lake hadn't been so strong & cold. We couldn't get to the car fast enough(she beat me to it, even with her hands and pockets full of rocks) & I got the heater cranking until we warmed up. She has off of school all week, so she's coming to spend Tuesday night with me, and Wednesday morning we're heading Up North to my sister & brother-in-laws' cottage to spend the rest of the week with them. ("Up North" is what all Wisconsinites call the northern part of the state). It's a 5 hour drive, so I'm packing the little CD player, art equipment, snacks, etc. to keep her occupied.  How times have changed, because when I was young and my dad would take my brothers and I Up North for vacations at my grandparents' cottage, we had nothing but our imaginations or a book to occupy our drive time, and if we complained he'd tell us that next time we could just stay home. Of course, there WAS the excitement of the time my older brother filled a glass jar with June bugs to try using as bait for fish. My dad was cruising along the highway with us all jammed like sardines in the packed up car. Unbeknown to any of us, the lid had come off the jar, the June bugs escaped, and when I felt something crawling on my neck and reached my hand up to see what it was, I screamed bloody murder when I saw it was a June bug, and my dad was so startled by the scream that he jerked the steering wheel & the car started swerving. Then he pulled the car over and yelled at me! ME! They weren't MY June bugs and I wasn't the one that brought them along......Dad was so irritated with us by then that he threatened to leave us ALL at home next time and just go by himself, which we all knew was an idle threat since mom didn't like being Up North & when we were gone she finally had a break from all of us. LOL.