Assateague Island // The Great Outdoors

Last year, we camped as a family on Assateague Island National Seashore. We had the time of our lives, and it was my kids' favorite thing we did, all year long. We tried to re-create that last weekend, and added my brother and sister in law and their four kids into the mix. What is more fun than camping + the beach + cousins?  It was a bit chilly, but we had a fun first night. The kids waded in the water, played in the sand, flew a kite, and patiently waited as our dutch oven chili took forever to heat up.

We were set to have an equally wonderful time, when the wind decided that we were going to have a *slightly* different experience this year. 35 mile per hour winds + sand + tent camping on the beach don't really go very well together. We woke up Friday morning, saw the condition of the tents in the wind, and packed up immediately.Heartbreaking.  Everyone was disappointed, but I was really proud of all of us--everyone had a great attitude. (Disclaimer: Saturday, faced with the camping-disaster-aftermath and events I thought we weren't attending but did, I was less than pleasant. Apologies to my family).  

Assateague is famous for it's wild horses. Did you know they eat poison ivy? We didn't either.

Still--the beach is good for my soul. Family vacations don't have to go completely as planned to be enjoyable, and my kids won't soon forget how they became Junior Rangers, or how our brand new tent poles *almost* snapped in the wind, or how our fire pit (and the fire in it) was completely buried in sand after 30 minutes. This is the stuff memories are made of, folks.