Henlopen Again

What do you do when a major hurricane has just passed a few days earlier and a potent tropical storm is threatening to dump bucket loads of rain on top of you?

You go camping.

At the beach.

Last year, the weekend after Labor Day, we headed to Delaware for a little beach camping at Henlopen State Park. With the arrival of baby Wyatt a few weeks earlier, we had no such plans this year. However, after spending a week at home trying to adjust to life with a new baby, I decided it was time to ditch that baby and take off for the coast.

Hurricane Irene had grazed us the week before, and Max and Isla were in some serious need of outside time. I was too. We left Shayla and Wyatt behind (Shayla was glad to have a quiet house for a bit!) and piloted our car eastward across the highways of the Mid-Atlantic.

Rain was falling heavily and winds were constantly trying to push our little Honda Civic off the road. Irene had left our part of the country without too much of a fuss, but she left the door wide open for Tropical Storm Lee. Lee came up from the Gulf of Mexico, but the rains he carried with him packed much more of a wallop than Irene. I second guessed my camping plans, but decided that it was good to get Max and Isla out of the house, and that if it was too crazy stormy at the campsite, we could huddle in the tent. I brought along a couple buckets of building blocks, which can easily entertain these two little kids (and their dad) for quite a few hours.

When we reached Lewes, the small city next to the beach, we stopped at Home Depot for a quick bathroom break. Once inside the store, I seriously considered purchasing a few sheets of plywood, incase I needed to construct a makeshift shelter to keep us safe from Lee's torrents. When I realized I didn't have any way of getting the plywood from the store to the beach, I gave up on the idea. Our tent would have to suffice.

We pulled into the campground, checked in at the entrance station, and as we did, the rain let up. Whew. Perfect timing! As quickly as I could, I set up camp before the rains came crashing down again. Quickly, when you have two kids and no other parents around to help entertain them, isn't really all that quick.

After rolling out the tent, Isla constantly tried to walk across it (which, if you know me, is camping sin number one). It was a bit windy and cold out, so Max wasn't too interested in running around, but he was interested in helping with the tent. Sometimes I love having him help, other times it just adds considerable time to the set-up process. This was one of those times.

I finally got the tent set up, pausing between setting tent pegs and assembling tent poles to satiate a couple little kids as best I could. It took me nearly three times as long as usual. The rain still hadn't started back up yet, but the clouds in the sky were no less threatening now than they were a couple hours ago.

I let the kids play inside the tent while I rigged up a makeshift shelter over the picnic table with a couple of polyethylene tarps. As kids usually do, they would intermingle play with fights and arguments. As the only parent, I had to take time from setting up the tarps to settling disputes.

When I finally had everything ready and felt confident that no matter what the heavens unleashed, we would remain dry, it was way past our usual dinner time. Both kids were now begging for food so I struck a fire and broke open a pack of hot dogs. Max was quite impressed that I managed to cook five hot dogs at once, I was glad it was going to be the quickest thing I had done all day!

After dinner, both Max and Isla were content and happy. They ran through the forest together while I set up sleeping bags and air mattresses. When the fire had died down to the proper 'mallow roasting size, we cooked up the customary camping trip s'mores. I think this is Max's favorite part about camping. He always makes sure we don't forget to bring along the marshmallows and chocolate. It wouldn't be camping without them.

Darkness quickly set in and fortunately, the winds and rains of Lee hadn't resumed falling. We made a quick trip to the bathroom, brushed our teeth, and then the three of us packed inside the tent and dressed for bed. After climbing into sleeping bags, Isla told me that she had to pee.

Seriously? We just went!

I stuck her outside the tent, pulled down her pants, and she let loose on the leaves decaying on the ground. After she had finished, Max came out and said he had to pee as well. He walked over to where Isla had just squatted, and in doing so, stepped all over her pee soaked leaves.

Uuggghh!

"Ok" I said, "Let's go to the bathroom".

"Why can't I pee on the leaves?"

"Because you just walked all over in Isla's pee, and now we have to go wash off your feet. I'm not letting you back into the tent with pee feet!"

When we got to the bathroom, Isla peed again. This time in a toilet. So did Max. As frustrated as I was that this was the third time in less than an hour that I was dealing with pee, I was also glad. Isla had just started wearing underwear to bed about a week or two earlier. She had had a couple bed-wetting accidents after going diaper free the first few nights, but had been pretty good more recently.

I was glad she was getting her bladder nice and empty before she fell asleep. I didn't really want to deal with a wet sleeping bag in the middle of the night.

Back in the tent, Max fell asleep quickly and Isla fell asleep about an hour and a half later. At about two-thirty that morning, Isla woke up in tears. Her sleeping bag was wet.

Three pee trips a few hours before was apparently not enough!

Fortunately, I had packed for colder weather and had an extra sleeping bag. I stuffed Isla's wet bag into it's sack and tossed it out onto the table. Then I pulled out the dry one for her.

With the exception of a leaky air mattress, the rest of the night was less eventful.

The next day greeted us with calm winds and partly cloudy skies. I took it as a sign to quickly pack up camp. Quickly was about as quick as setting up camp the night before. Kids would play, then fight, then Max got bit by a few ants and started freaking out. He sat on the table and didn't move for about an hour. Every few minutes he'd call to me that another ant was either crawling on his back or biting him somewhere. I'd go over and check, no ants, and then get back to work.

When everything was packed, I was ready to just head for home. I was tired, stressed out, and didn't really want to deal with the beach. I tried to delay the beach as long as I could, hoping that Max and Isla would be ready to go home soon too. Instead of the beach, we drove over to one of the many Army watch towers that dot the shoreline and climbed to the top.

It was nice to get out and do something other than work around camp. Max and Isla were happy, and my mood seemed to be a bit brighter too. After checking the view from the top of the tower, we set off for the beach.

I had left my swimsuit at home, so I pulled on a pair of pajama pants that I had made into shorts and figured that would have to do. The wind picked up a bit on the beach but it wasn't too bad. The water was cold but Max didn't let that stop him. He immediately ran out into the water.

Isla had different plans. She has never really liked the waves at the beach, and so she cried on the towel while Max and I ran around in the water. After fifteen minutes or so, I was finally able to get Isla out into the water with me, and she was starting to like it.

I may have pushed her a bit too much, because I walked out a bit further where the water was deeper and a largish (it was actually quite small, but probably large to her) wave came up and nearly covered her up to her belly. She was done. She had had enough. As I was carrying Isla back to her towel, a much larger wave came and crashed over the top of Max. It knocked him over and he fell down and hit his head. When he came back up, he was crying.

So much for the beach. I gathered up the kids and all our stuff and we headed back to the car. After showering the sand and saltwater off us we ate lunch from the trunk of the car and then headed for home.

Halfway into our return trip, Lee greeted us once again with a torrential downpour. He would continue to rain for the next few days. When we got home, Shayla told me that it had rained the entire time we were gone. I told Shayla that I was never going camping with our kids and without her again!

It was a lot of work and a lot of stress, but in the end, it was a great trip with some great memories. Both Max and Isla loved going camping and I have to say, with all the mess, fuss, and work, I enjoyed spending time with my kids.