The Jungbauer Family Website

Diversions

Sarah and I spent the weekend near Michigan City at a volleyball tournament. The girls played 8 games on Saturday and were so pooped that they could barely even shop the outlet mall. Even with three teens (Sarah, Logan and Kaila) in one hotel room, it was a quiet night.

This morning, while the girls were still sleeping, I headed to Lake Michigan for a run. I pulled into the park at Mount Baldy where I have been several times before, but was amazed at what I saw.

Full-grown trees were "swimming" in the sand. (The early morning lighting was so awesome it even made a great photo on my cell phone, but unfortunatley, I left my real camera at the hotel. I went back to Mount Baldy about an hour later, but the lighting wasn't nearly as good.)

My running trail . . . . .came to an abrupt halt.

The living dune smothers anything in its path; the shifting sand is stunningly and clearly powerful.

Don't let the 2-D photo fool you. These dunes are definitely, dwarfing 3-D!

I was surprised to discover that neither Logan or Kaila had ever been to The Dunes. I drove them by for a quick peek but I'm sure they still cannot fathom what is on the other side and beyond.

Meanwhile, Rachel stayed home so that she could go to her friend Miranda's house for the night . . . and spend the night on the town in the limo!

I left her my camera.

(There were lots more.)

Steve was left behind to do guy stuff --- clean the garage, fertilize the yard, play with fire . . . . .

Still not sure what happened, but soon after we got home tonight, the back forty was in the midst of a wildfire. The Jungbauer fire department responded promptly and decisively. No casualties or property damage other than an acre or two of burnt grass.

Benchmarks 2006

Sorry the postmark is a little late!

2002

2003

2004

2005

Yal-ku is very cool

Ten Grand returned to Akumal, Mexico. This year we were almost at the end of the road (Akumal only has one main road) and overlooked Yal-Ku Lagoon.

There wasn't quite as much solitude as the photo would suggest, but it was still very peaceful and a pleasant change from the pounding ocean-side surf of the past two years.

During the day, the lagoon swarmed with almost as many snorkelers as fish. Whatever your pleasure, there was plenty to watch.

Our "penthouse" view of the lagoon

Guess who was usually on the sun deck

Guess who you couldn't keep out of the water

Guess who was content to enjoy the water from the distance . . .

Gramma playing Sudoku. Grampa playing on his Mac.

. . . and when we needed a break from the sun, countless games of "Golf" and "Spite & Malice."

Samantha got to SCUBA for the first time

Jeff was content to stay on the beach . . . with the babes!

One of our favorite beach bars . . .

Steve and I got the bird's eye view from La Buena Vida

. . . and the kids got a swinging view

Another fun adventure: a day on Cozumel.

Two years ago we explored Cozumel by scooter. Last year, Eric and Steve ventured back to the island to explore the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma. Not surprisingly, they rebuilt Cozumel very quickly. We were disappointed to see the quaintness of the "undeveloped" side of the island devoured by real highways heavily patroled by police.

Nonetheless, we were still carefree as we journeyed around the island topless . . .

Body surfing was great too!

A fun day . . . but we were glad to return to our placid little lagoon.

Time to go home . . .

Adios . . . . .