Today was Trammell’s first birthday and also the first day this year that truly felt spring-like. That combination inevitably led to a day of dog-fun at PJ Hoffmaster State Park. Mary and I played basketball early in the afternoon then scooped the dogs up and drove out to Lake Michigan at around 2:30. Being a March weekday only a week removed from the last snowfall, I figured we were good for some solitude out at the lake. I think our timing was perfect as we pulled into the park just as three other cars bearing retirees were exiting and hiked over icy trails to find a completely deserted beach. Literally not another person in sight. All told I think we saw about five people total and only once close enough where we felt the need to grab the dogs. At least for one day Trammell and Taylor had their own personal beachfront playground.

Trammell had no fear of forty-degree water. Much to the chagrin of Taylor who would crouch at water’s edge and bark at Trammell until he safely returned to dry land.

And here she is crouching, though in a more relaxed stance than usual. We wandered down the beach while the dogs chased each other and a great teflon frisbee my mom bought for us this past Christmas and eventually came across this mini inlet. After some coaxing were able to get Taylor to cross the watery gap a few times. Trammell as you can see of course had no qualms.

That picture on the right cracks me up. I mean seriously, I think Trammell is part Tigger. More impressively I’m almost positive that picture catches him on a downward trajectory. Definitely has some hops.

Here I am (environmental science major) destroying some poor sand dune. I then made the dogs jump off with me three or four more times. I believe that about a second after this picture was taken I face-planted straight into the ground while Mary laughed. That probably would’ve made a great photo as well. I like the second picture because it shows me showered in pixie dust. Looks like Trammell only has one pixie. Then again he is only one year old.

Trammell is poised to chase, whereas Taylor never seems quite able to grasp what’s about to happen. I’m sure she’s happier that way. She certainly looks happy with a mouth full of sand and slobber.

Later I walked with the dogs to the top of an enormous dune while Mary watched from the base. Here, the dogs are posing while pausing for a breather part way up. The wore themselves out sprinting back and forth several times between me as I climbed and Mary down below.

I spent much of the afternoon randomly snapping Mary in awkward poses with the digital camera. This wasn’t one of those times. On the way home we stopped at the Whippi Dip and bought Trammell a birthday scoop of soft-serve ice cream which Taylor promptly mooched off of. Yup, spoiled rotten. Happy Birthday Trammell!

You ever notice how noone is ever driving their brand new car through slush and snow in a car commercial? That’s because noone wants to be reminded about how miserable it is drive your car in winter or how miserable it is to live in winter in general. Tomorrow is the first day of spring and we haven’t seen a high temperature out of the forties yet this year. Today’s weather is snow and freezing rain. Enough already!

And so begins the greatest of all sports events.

I attended a youth church service with some of the kids from work this evening. A couple things creeped me out about this outing. The first was a pair of overly-enthusiastic service leaders who talked too loud and too quickly and kept saying awesome over and over again.

Girl Leader: We’ve got some awesome trips to tell you about!
Guy Leader: So awesome guys! Sweet! I can’t wait! It’s going to be awesome!

I guess that’s supposed to relate to the MTV watchers. It wasn’t working too well though, as most of the kids took this as a sign not to pay attention and instead wandered around the church or talked to their friends. Kids these days need a serious dose of cynicism if they’re accepting being peddled this baby-talk on a regular basis. The second creepy thing was the parade introductions made to me by various youth leaders. I guess you draw a little attention when you bring a van-full of teenage boys to a church function. “Hi, I want to introduce you Matt. He’s our youth group coordinator” “Hi I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m Ryan, one of the youth pastors.” A little too smiley for my taste. There’s also something weird about randomly being introduced to another guy.

I was nearly impaled by a pair of ducks while walking the dogs this afternoon. By “nearly” I mean they buzzed within ten feet of my head. I think we both caught each other by surprise as I ran up a hill and suddenly popped into their flight path. I spent the next couple of minutes after that contemplating what it would be like to be run into by a duck flying at top speed. It probably would be pretty spectacular to see no matter what the result.