The beach

So, this weekend was the annual trip to Ferry Beach, and this one was a little tough. Suzanne didn't make it to my house until 7:30 PM Friday night, and it's an almost 2 hour drive to where we were staying. We had a plan to get the kids totally ready for bed, and hope they slept in the car. Well. No chance of that happening! I like to call Suzanne the kid's Beloved, and they were both just so excited to see her that they were chattering away to her and singing songs and laughing the whole car ride. Better than crying, I guess.

Which is what happened when we got to the house we were staying at. Now, the Beloved Suzanne was chopped liver and they only wanted Mommy - who needed to unpack the car. Major meltdown. Cam wouldn't sleep in the tent, Maggie was hysterical... good times. I finally convinced Cam to sleep in the king sized bed with me, and Maggie passed out in the pack-n-play. But sleeping with Cam was awful. He was pretty much up all night - even managed to fall off the bed.

We got in the car on Saturday morning to finish the drive to Ferry Beach, and all went well. Everyone was super excited about the beach, and we had a great time playing. Problem was, in a few hours, Cam only wanted MAMA because he was tired. And whiny. Sigh.

What was the most fun was watching Maggie play in the sand. This was the first time she's been at the beach and old enough to really play. She loved it.

There was a very minimal nap time and more misery in the afternoon. I also brought loads of beach toys and ride on toys for my kids - and all the other children there used them.... and left them EVERYWHERE. I was SO tired by the lack of sleep and burned out from the incessant whining that I was ready to snap. Walking all around in the soft sand recovering toys was almost the straw that broke the camel's back. By the end, I was wondering if the fun at the beach was worth the stress.

I think it was. Cam loved playing with the 'big kids' on the beach - and everyone there was so nice to my kids. There were kites and sand castles to smash and drumming and even a little stream to play in. We headed back to the place we were staying for bedtime, and had a repeat of the meltdown from Friday night, but this time both Cam and Maggie slept really well.

In the morning, we went out for breakfast at a fun place, and then to a different beach - where the most fun was had climbing on rocks.

Beautiful weather, great time with our buddy Suzanne (or Sue ANNE as the kids calls her) - but I was happy to be home in our own bed. With Aaron, who is a suitable substitute to Mommy when babies are cranky.