Mother's Day

For Mother's Day my boys took me camping at the beach.  I was very excited to be able to go back to the beach camping but a little unsure of what that would look like with an almost 2 year old.  We borrowed a friends big tent.  We set it up in the living room before we went and talked about how we were going to the beach and we were going to sleep in the tent.  James was really excited...maybe a little too excited.  We knew we were going to get to the campsite late at night and the plan was for James to fall asleep in the car and for us to just transfer him into the tent when we got there.  I guess he was really excited about the whole idea because he did NOT fall asleep in the car, as we were pulling in he was kicking his legs saying beach over and over.  We didn't get everything set up and settled until 10pm and James was stil awake.  He was very upset that we wouldn't let him run in and out of the tent.  He was crying and screaming for a little bit (I am sure the people in the tents near us were thrilled!).  Finally we got him to settle down and lay still and he was out...at 10:30!  The next morning he woke up at 6 and there was more crying and screaming.  Lee threw him in the truck to drive around and hopefully settle him down a little.  A little while later they came back with no more tears.  Next we decided to go down to the beach where James would not stand in the sand and just kept saying "all done beach"!  At this point we were pretty sure we were in big trouble.  James was tired, cranky, and hated the beach!

Thankfully, Uncle Rich and Aunt Kristie had invited us to come out on their boat and go to Shackleford Island with them.  We had a great time and Sloan and Milly did a great job of distracting James from his crankiness.  He was still pretty unsure of walking around on this sand stuff but he would sit down and dig in it.  We also saw some wild horses while we were there.  I don't think James really realized how cool that was!

That night James fell asleep at 9 in the car on the way back to the tent and slept soundly until 7:15 the next morning.  We were all in a MUCH better mood after a good night's sleep.  It's amazing what a little sleep will do for you.  Before we left the beach we decided to go to the aquarium.  James fell asleep in the car on the way there (he still had a lot of catching up to do!).  We sat in the parking lot for a while to let him get some rest then decided to put him in the stroller and head in.  He did not wake up.    We paid and went in and he slept on.  Finally when we got to the exhibits we decided we had better wake him up or he might just miss the whole thing.