When we go camping, we have learnt to expect the weather to do almost anything. It’s the kind of place where you can experience a few seasons in just one day. On this trip, the weather was a bit windy, cool and cloudy on and off for a majority of the time, but we got a couple of really wonderful clear days. On these days we did all we could to make sure we had fun on the water. It was fun to watch the Little Mister running free along the sand of the safe little beaches. So much joy! So many happy dances!
The water was so clear and in some spots it was shallow a long way out, which made it great for the Little Mister to have a splash around. We spent a good deal of time sitting with him in the shallows, getting sand in *ahem* places as we played with the muddy sand and made gloopy sand castles. On one of our beach days, Mr Unprepared asked me if I wanted to get out of the water or go and do something else and for the first time in what felt like months, I completely honestly said, “You know what? I’m all good. I am just content being right here in the moment.”
I wasn’t craving extra stimulation or new activities. I had nowhere else to be. There was no time limit. Nothing dragging me away. It felt so good and it was then that I knew I was starting to relax well into holiday mode.
Besides sitting on our bums in cold water, we also tried our hands at kayaking and paddle boarding.
Above is a photo of my parents taking the Little Mister kayaking (he’s at the front on my mum’s lap). He would “help” to paddle and he really loved being out on the water in his cute little life jacket. They came back after a short trip and we asked him if he’d like to climb out and go do something else in the water, but he said no quite emphatically and so my parents had no choice but to take him out for another whirl haha. Toddlers are the boss.
Mr Unprepared and I also had fun taking the Little Mister out for a kayaking session and while there was one iffy moment when he said he’d like to get up and proceeded to make an attempt, we had a great time. I couldn’t really help with the paddling and the Little Mister didn’t really understand the concept of paddling in time with your partner, but we made it back to land eventually 😛
Mr Unprepared and I tried our hands at stand up paddle boarding (we’d had a taste of it the previous year) and as there was quite a stiff breeze blowing the opposite way to where I wanted to go, I may have accidentally (but totally on purpose if anybody asks) ended up on that strip of land you see across the water. My centre of gravity when standing (due to the wind) made paddling difficult so I was on my knees mostly. You wait. When they invent ‘on your knees’ paddle boarding, I will be the champion and you won’t be laughing then. Luckily for me, my mum has any photo evidence of this and I currently do not. However, I did get a photo of my husband showing off.
Let me add that he is bigger and stronger than I am so he had a totally unfair advantage. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!! Also, I almost paddled over a sting ray at one point so I had some challenges. But that is a separate moment to the time when I almost stood on one in the shallows and my family yelled a lot of nonsense at me that I didn’t understand, which was kind of scary. Mostly because of the yelling and not as much because of the sting ray. Sting rays are lovely except for the whole deadly barbed tail thing.
Anyway, that concludes my photographic record of 2014’s camping experience! You can see my other photos here, here and here!
Now it’s back to real life and routine. Routine that doesn’t involve daily afternoon cheese blow outs and lack of any serious decision making (being an adult is hard y’all). Now it’s time to make the house look nice, save like crazy and prepare for our mid year trip to Korea and Japan! I like 2014 so far 🙂
If you have any questions about what it’s like camping with a toddler, where we actually went or about anything you’ve seen in my photos, feel free to ask! You can find me on Facebook too x
