The old body is hurting this morning. I took the wife and kids to Warren Dunes yesterday. It's situated on Lake Michigan, probably about 75 minutes outside Chicago. The best part of the Dunes is climbing. It's also the worst part. Many people decline to make the climb altogether: 240 feet above the Lake, all of it loose sand, which means you lose a foot for every three you gain. Do that with seven kids--including the baby on your back the toddler needing help by hand--and you know why I'm sore today.
Here's a picture of my wife and children in Lake Michigan. The water wasn't highly swimmable, but the kids enjoyed the change of scenery and getting a little wet.
My wife wasn't dressed like the nubile teenage girls that were running around. Not a single one-piece bathing suit among the 100 or so that I saw. And many of the girls simply didn't have the figures for them. When you see girls 20 pounds overweight struttin' in a two-piece, you know it's a culture gone mad.
It reminds me of the May Crowning ceremony at my church last week. They invited the public school eighth graders to attend and--true to public fashion--they showed their cleavage and lots of thigh . . . to crown Mary. Odd idea, that, but when your kids are exposed excessively to pop culture, they lose all reference points that aren't pop.
One of the mothers said all elegant (prom-like) dresses these days are excessively revealing, so it wasn't her daughter's fault. Well, if that's the case, revert to a blouse/dress combo, like my daughter wore. If you have to look like you should be dancing on a pole in order to look fashionable, you should dress like the Amish.
But let's be real. The assertion that you must dress like a stripper is false. There are nice clothes out there that don't reveal everything you have. I see them all the time . . . worn by girls whose parents have the guts, taste, and good sense to defy the Lords of Madison Avenue.
