12 hour camping trip - long post.

I don't know mom, I have a bad feeling about this camping trip

consolation prize

I like the puddles at least

We decided to go to Assateague Island after all on our annual 4th of July weekend trip - the slogan of which is Sacrifice because of the many mosquitoes and other elemental factors. I had deep reservations but Timothy had been sleeping well the last two nights so I threw caution to the wind (more on that later) and grabbed our beach gear and trekked the normally 4 hour trip (with child 6 hours) to the Maryland shore.

I've been going to this event for the last twelve years. Most of the people that attend are from the environmental/non-profit DC crowd. About 150 people come each year and it's really organized from kid's activities, to gourmet meals, dancing, bonfires, talent night. We all sleep in our own tents and converge on a large circus type tent for meals and announcements. Teams are responsible for recycling, trash, dinners and happy hours.

Timothy seemed to like the campsite although he was in a Baby Einstein- induced video fog and hadn't napped. When we got to the campsite he had fun playing in the sand, gave everyone high fives, was thrilled with the ocean and water, ate a great dinner and danced in the tent. He went to sleep immediately. Greg and I read in the tent and passed out as well.

A few hours pass and it starts to rain, no biggie - it always storms at Assateague. But then it gets bad -really lightening, like it's practically daylight in the tent. The winds pick up. Finally it's so bad, Timothy wakes up terrified. I grab him from the pack-n-play and two minutes later the tent is lifted from the ground and we are all shocked as the tent is laying on it's side. Greg yells at me to go to the Big Tent. Others folks from the group were there riding out the storm and helped me try to keep the wind off of Timothy and keep me calm.

It seems silly now but I was freaked out. We've never had a tent blow over like that. It turns out the same thing happened to 12 other tents - a record. Timothy was not happy and wet and very very tired from meds, missing naptime and it being about 11 at night. Plus it was windy and wet. We finally went to the car to try and get him to sleep and Greg pulled everything out of the tent, which wasn't very close to the car, in the windy rain. Since we didn't have a home any longer and there was no way to get a hotel room we drove back home, sigh. We left at 12:45 and got home at 3:15 am. So not much time at the beach. Timothy slept mostly in the car and slept once we got back home. Greg drank coke to stay awake and then couldn't sleep once we got home so unloaded the entire car. The next day we went to a local water park. Not nearly as much fun but he did get to play in the water, sort of. He didn't really want anything to do with it except for the puddles. Plus the water was really cold.