First Camping Trip with the Boys!

A little over a week ago we had a Staniel Cay pick-up to do, which means guests have paid for us to pick them up in the boat and bring them the 40+ miles back to Georgetown by boat. We thought it would be a great time to take the boys camping finally! We've wanted to try it for a long time, especially being the business we're in :) but one thing after another kept pushing it back. So we packed up the boat and headed up around the Staniel Cay area the night before to see how these little fellas do camping...

 We of course had to stop by Thunderball and get in a little snorkeling. Some of these shots with the water camera just didn't turn out that great, but I have to put them on here because it was Emit's first time inside Thunderball :) He was soooo excited to be going in the cave! We always joke with the boys and tell them we're going to look for Toothless and the other dragons from the movie How to Train a Dragon (one of their favorites).

 The boys were so excited inside 'looking for dragons' and this was Emit's big smile for the camera :) He kept his mouth open the whole time for the photo (above). Another fellow snorkeler offered to take our photo and I of course jumped at the chance. The flash doesn't work well in the water case, but oh well.

Next we made our way by the big and said hi. We didn't lose any pacies this time, but a couple of our toys tried to jump ship and play with the pigs... no worries, mommy rescued both of them :) This shot below was our home for the night. Just north/northwest of Staniel Cay called Twin Beaches. It was beautiful!!!You don't get the full scope of the island from this shot, but it is surrounded by a cove with a rock wall with waves crashing on it. Really peaceful spot that Daddy picked out!

  The only down side was that we got there at low tide, so we couldn't get very close to the beach to unload all of our gear. So we hiked back and forth down the sand spit you see below with little helpers walking and 'helping' each trip.

We brought their little shade tent to play in a 'tent' during the day since we knew it would be a temptation if they saw the big tents and we didn't want them trekking sand in and out all day...needless to say, this one was filled with sand, but worked perfectly for what we needed.

 After we setup a few things in camp we were off to explore the island. Dallas likes to try to get a bucket of garbage and items washed up on the cays and carry it out with us when we go to try to keep it nice and tidy up that way. We found the most perfect 'trash' items we could have asked for. The first one was this little plastic ball below that Emit is carrying. The other you'll see Joss playing with a little later :)

 The back side of the island was mostly sharp rocks and bush, so there wasn't too much exploring done around there... and not too many photos because it is just not worth it to snap a photo if I put my little dudes in harms way because I'm behind the viewfinder instead of holding their hands. And actually if it wasn't me worrying about the boys it was me worrying about getting sand and water on the camera, so there weren't just a ton of great pictures out of this bunch... but I think there are enough to get an idea.

 It was a very bright day for sure! We kept the boys in their little hats for as long as they would tolerate them.

 The exploring didn't take too long since we couldn't hike too far on the west side of the island, so we headed back to camp to play on the beach instead.

On our way back is when Joss found his little 'toy', I mean trash item! A plastic wheel. This thing actually made it home with us for a few days after the trip :) It was a big hit. 

 Emit found another little wooden ball that he tossed in and out of the tide pool area for the longest... Seriously, I think this beach knew we were coming...balls and wheels, I couldn't have asked for better finds!

 Emit thought he was such a big boy running up and down these "hills" in the tide pool spot. And yes, I'm talking about those ripples of sand around him :)

 Next we headed back down the sand spit toward the boat (see that earlier photo again) to the little island that was just a short swim away, or at least it looked like a short swim. We walked as far as we could down the sand and then we swam the boys across the little gap to go and check out the other 'Twin Beach' cay. The tide was coming in and the current was picking up, so this 'short little swim' kicked out tails. The boys both had their wings on, so they were floating no problem, but mommy and daddy were pooped when we finally got across. We hiked to the other side of that little island (seriously maybe 30 yards wide total), said hi to a bird catching fish (pretty cool for the boys) and then we headed back before the tide came in anymore making it even more tiring to swim back across the gap.

 On the walk back up to the beach we were each carrying a sleepy, all tuckered out little dude. So our next plan was dinner, fresh water shower and trying to get the boys in bed. They both were nodding off in our arms, so we thought for sure they'd go to sleep fairly easily....WRONG!

 Hippo & Monkey (or Minky as Emit calls him) were holding down the forts :) Earlier in the day these little pals were also my co-captains. I drove the boat from Georgetown to Barraterre (about 23 miles) while Dallas drove the truck and the boys out. It was a nice little trip, and the first time I've driven the boat all by myself. That stretch is pretty much right along the edge of the "ocean" meaning not in the harbor or right next to land, but exposed to the deeper waters, so I felt pretty comfortable that I wouldn't run into anything too shallow and run it a ground. But it also meant that I was a long ways from any prying ears and could sing my little heart out to some good ole songs :) It was a nice little mental break for mommy (about an hour)!!

Back to our camping though...we brought the luxury items with us on this one... a fresh water shower!!!! If you've spent any time in the saltwater and sun, you know how glorious a rinse (no matter how small) of freshwater can make you feel.

I didn't get any shots of Emit that didn't fully expose him.. so we'll just use these with Joss for now :) Poor little Emit, he's gonna hate those photos one day. Just remember...mommy and daddy LOVE you, naked tush and all, and just don't want to forget these times!

Trying to keep the boys clear of sand after their rinse was a bit of a challenge, but we ate dinner (or we tried to get them to eat), of course all the boys wanted was their nice cold cup of milk, and then we had another quick rinse for the boys to make sure they were fresh for their tents. 

 Again, sorry for the blurry ones... it was tricky lighting, but then again, I'm not a pro...just a mommy preserving precious moments! We all piled in the tent that Emit and I were going to share that night to do story time with them.....BIG MISTAKE!!!! Even though they were clearly tired, we should have known better trying to get them to sleep while it was still this bright out. Even though it was their bedtime....it just wasn't going to happen. 

 Dallas and I were both pooped after a long day too and thought, oh well, lets just try anyway. By time we read a couple stories they were just getting more and more worked up and fired up again so we had to split them up into their separate tents. Our feeble attempt to calm them down did not work in our favor (at all).

 Joss was at least laying still and reading more stories with Daddy, but Emit was rolling all over the place, standing on his head, kicking his legs around and bouncing on the air mattress. I know, really 'roughing it', huh! At this point we should have gotten out of the tents and let the boys run around, done a campfire when it got darker and gone to bed later when they were just totally beat, but no.

 Remember how I said Dallas and I were pooped...well the last thing we wanted to do was get out of our comfy and clean tent to get sandy and sweaty again, build a campfire, and have to clean up all over again with two really tired boys. So we stayed in the tents. Dallas hooked up his iTouch for him and Joss to watch Chuggington and that seemed to work well. Emit finally dozed off a little later after a long resistance, but they both had very restless nights (meaning mommy and daddy did too).

 The upside was that our tents were positioned perfectly breathtaking moon and sunrise! I used a famous quote from my brother-in-law, Elliott, when the moon came out. My first ever camping trip in the Bahamas was with Dallas and Elliott, their cousin David and a friend of Elliott's (even Steven)! Yes, I was the only girl...but Dallas and I were just 'pals' then and it was a blast. But back to my point... the moon was out, very similar to our beautiful full-moon like we had, and in the middle of the night after everyone had gone to sleep Elliott rolls over and blurts out "I'm getting moon-burn!" We were all just camping out on the beach that night, and Dallas and I died laughing... we've quoted you since then, Elliott :) Dallas actually got up and put the rain-fly's on the tents b/c there was a chance of rain, but the bright moon was making it hard on all of us to rest. After a long and tiring night of tossing and turning with the boys we woke up (or at least Emit and I did) to this amazing sunrise! The Lord's creation is truly AWESOME!!!!

 I don't have any snapshots of us leaving camp that morning because we woke up and were trying to get coffee and milk and the boys started in, "I wanna go home!" Luckily, our pick-up with our guests was at 9am, so we only had a couple hours before we could say, 'okay, we're on our way!'. Tide was higher so we didn't have to walk as far to load the boat, but the whole time we were loading the boat with our gear the boys were standing at the edge of the beach crying and yelling at us, obviously exhausted, but apparently a little stressed they were going to get left behind. And NO, I have never left my kiddos behind to prove a point or anything like that, so I'm not sure why they had a sudden fear of being abandoned.

 Luckily, soon after we get on the water that morning we came across a 'Mighty Machine' dredging sand. We drove by this (above) very slowly so the boys could enjoy seeing the big ole machines hard at work. All the workers were waving at them like crazy too :) YAY, something good!!!

 We tried to catch some fish on our way to the pick-up, but that didn't pan out. We were loading our guests on the boat at a very rolly beach (meaning the waves were just rolling in and me and the boys sitting in the boat waiting for them to load all the gear and hook up the sailboat to be towed were just sitting their 'rolling' in the waves (makes my tummy churn just thinking about it). The guests were very pleasant company for the ride back, but we were all very tired and ready to be home and off the water for a bit.

 

I got out in Barraterre with the boys to ride in the truck and tow the sailboat while Dallas and the guests rode the rest of the way in the boat. About 15 miles away from home the trailer gets a flat on me. I don't carry a cell phone (but I probably will try to have one on my now) so I had to borrow one from somebody to call Dallas and ask him what he wanted me to do. Of course he said to leave it and he'll take care of it. So I drive all the way back to town, we unload the boat, then drive all the way back to the sailboat, fix the flat, and finally make it back home around 5pm. I found out on the way back that we had the trailer spare tire in the truck...he failed to mention that to me on the phone or else I would have changed it then and there...but knowing Dallas, he knew I would have changed it and so he didn't tell me on purpose so I wouldn't. I'm tired just remembering the outing, but we're glad we finally have it behind us. 

The boys really were fantastic up until bedtime. And next time, yes, I want to try it again, we'll plan on the whole campfire thing and see how that works. I'm sure soon I won't be able to keep these guys from doing anything else but fishing and camping, and I'll be begging them to stay home with 'boring, ole mom', but until then it is fun trying these things as a family and being true "Out-Island Explorers" :)