We packed up our camping gear this weekend and headed out for the Cub Scout Family Camp at Nehalem Bay. We weren't sure how it would all work out - the weather, the supplies, the toddler's sleeping habits...
We think we may have lucked into the best campsite in the entire campground! Most of them were cramped and inches away from neighbors, but ours had a clearing in the brush that allowed up to put our tent a few steps uphil and gave us more room by the campfire. We set up rather quickly - if only things got packed away as fast!
Before most of the other families arrived, we explored the day-use area of the park. It was windy, but warmer than we'd expected. We were excited to see horses on the beach available for rides. We offered the boys, but the thrill of horses is gone for them - Hayden asked if he'd have to clean up the poop if they pooped while he was riding it.
Around dinner time friendly faces appeared. Two of Bayley's best friends were directly across from us, so we didn't see much of the boys from that point on! They claim to have created a kingdom in the trees and bushes behind the campsites, complete with a secret passage to the beach. I think they wanted to charge admission...so I never checked it out.
Grace watched the boys climbing trees and wanted to give it a try, but after toppling on her first attempt she decided to make her own game. she found a tree with two low branches. She stood on one and held onto another and jumped! When Bayley's friend Emily arrive, it was the first thing Grace had to show her!
Things were going well - Bayley had from some shells (including a crab shell, yuck), the boys were climbing trees, everyone agreed s'mores are simply better in the wilderness...and then it was time for bed. Hayden was smart, he turned in early and got an hour of sleep before Grace and I nestled into the tent. An hour later, Bayley and Jeff followed to find Hayden hiding in his sleeping bag, and Grace and I very much awake.
She did try to go to sleep, but it wasn't a bed and there were people everywhere and she's not used to sleeping under blankets (let alone in sleeping bags)...so when she did doze she'd get cold and wake up screaming. When she drifted off and I tried to cover her, she's wake up screaming. So it was a night of - she woke up screaming. All around us were treated to her irreverant song stylings.
The next morning...there wasn't enough coffee to make us chipper and there was lots to do! As soon as breakfast was over, the group took a hike/bike ride to the bay and giant sand dunes. The weather was amazing for the Oregon coast. Bright sunshine, a gentle breeze, and warm! The kids had a fabulous time! They climbed the dun and ran down, buried eachother in the sand, explored the driftwood forts...and then were treated to a baby seal siting and some impromptu clam digging!
We hiked back to camp with some very hungry kiddos. After scarfing down our sandwiches, it was over to the meeting hall for Alka Seltzer rockets, Bingo, and Sibling Olympics!
We learned a bit about our boys during Sibling Olympics - like they need to learn how to do push-ups and jumping jacks. Watch these videos at your own risk! If you laugh, you're volunteering to give the boys a training session!!
Time flew, and before we knew it, we were trekking down to the beach for sand castle building contest and kite flying!
You see, Cub Scouts pack an entire vacation of activities into one day! And the boys thought it was heaven. Most of the boys in Bayley's den were there, so they stuck together for the sand castle building - making a town, a fortress, and Mt. Everest (which won for tallest, by the way). Hayden was kind of on his own since only one other boy from his den was there - so he made sea turtles, decorating their shells with rocks and making holes for their sand eggs.
Once the tide put an end to the sand castles, the boys turned to kite flying - we packed 5 kites...and got 1 to fly. There wasn't as much wind as the day before, so Jeff couldn't get his pteradactyl kite to work. The dollar store kites were a bust (too much wind for them). Luckily, Auntie Terri's kits saved the day - she'd picked them up for the boys because the package said 'duckie'...and the kites were turtles! Too funny.
One of those kites flew perfectly. The kids could get it up and down themselves. The other...got dragged in the sand when Hayden tried to run with it (having missed seeing Jeff take a tumble trying to outrun his pteradactyl). When he skipped the kite over the sand, the top part broke through it's fabric, make it hard for the kite to stay aloft. But the kids got to see their friends fly kites, and shared their's with some friends who didn't bring one so they could all earn a kite segment for their shirts.
Instead of braving it another night with the diva, we decided to break camp after dinner and headed for home after the final campfire. It was a great weekend (minus the lack of sleep thing) and we look forward to doing it again next summer.
What a busy two days! The boys had their birthday parties on Saturday, Sunday we hit the farmer's market and trekked out to Grandma's for dinner, and then we got to play with the Gordon girls while they were in town for a sleepover!
