John had Monday off ... and we knew we wanted to do something fun. But what?? When we heard some friends of ours were going "beach camping" we decided to join the fun. We packed up Sunday afternoon and planned to be to Matagorda Beach around 6pm. The plan was to get to the beach, build a fire, and get camp set up.
When we arrived the wind was blowing SO hard... the kids kept screaming, "There's sand in my eyes!!!" You could see the sand whipping all around us, but we decided to see if we could get a fire started anyway. After John and Nate dug a big hole they attempted to build a fire (I wish I had a picture of this). If you can imagine a big hole dug in the soft sand with two big coolers around the pit trying to block some of the wind. The best was when John setup the beach umbrella at an angle to block the wind. Not sure it did much good... but he was trying :). While the men were working on the fire. The moms were trying to keep the kids happy. Dallin and Abigail were running around at first, but decided the wind was blowing WAY too much for their liking and began hiding out in the back of the Petersen's truck bed. Connor (who is terrified of wind, rain and thunder at the moment) was not getting out of the car. Corinne was such a good baby. She was just happy to be playing in the back of the van with Connor. After about a half hour of trying to build the fire ... there was NO luck. And even a little rain to add to the fun.
We had to come up with Plan B for dinner (the kids at this point were starving!). We had brought our electric skillet to do pancakes for breakfast and we could just cook up the hotdogs and sausages on that. The plan was to plug it into our car adapter. Great plan we thought... until we blew two fuses in the car. Hmmm.. Now dinner was out and so was breakfast. At this point the kids were getting cranky, so we decided to head back toward town to this little diner/bar. Despite the fact that the wind was still blowing like crazy and this place had no real walls... the burgers were fabulous! We also were able to check the wind report (loving the iphone at this point)... which said that the winds were supposed to die down at about midnight. No big deal (we thought). So we headed back out to the beach to see if we could make it a go.
When we got out of the car (very dark at this point) I was amazed at the amount of stars you could see. What a beautiful sky! The wind, however, was still blowing, but it was supposed to stop so we pulled our cars up off the "road part" of the beach and a little into the dry soft side and prepared to make camp. I'm sure you can imagine what happens to a tent when we try and set it up in 20 mph winds... it becomes a kite. After trying various positions we decided the best spot for the tent was as close to the car as possible (using the car as a shield). We then used every heavy/ semi-heavy thing we could find in our cars to weight down the tents. Once the tents were up... we went to work on the fire. John dug a hole in the sand and dowsed the wood in lighter fluid. We crossed our fingers and lit the match. We were SO excited when wood caught and we had a real fire. The evening continued with smores and roasting starburts. We were SO proud of ourselves. We had conquered the beach. Our tents were standing (bending in half most of the time with the wind, but still standing) and we had a fire!
Lucky for us Connor had fallen asleep in the car after dinner, so once the tent was up we just transferred him to the tent. The other three kiddos headed to bed after some fun by the fire. The adults stayed up chatting for awhile. The campfire was great.. the stars were amazing... the adventure was a success so far. :) We all snuggled into our sleeping bags (well, really on top of them - it is too hot in Texas to get in your sleeping bag) around 1 am. I was out the moment my head hit the pillow.
At about 3am, John and I woke up to Nathan whispering into our tent..."John... come out here... you have to see this." Of course, we jumped up to see what was going on. We opened the door of the tent only to see our cars in the water. Waves were beginning to come all the way up the beach to our camp site! At this point the Petersen's tent was being hit by waves too. Now what do we do???? Do we just pull the tents and cars farther up the beach?? But the cars would surely be stuck in the sand if we drove them any further into the soft sand. (Oh... side note... the wind did not die down at midnight. And was still going strong at 3am) What to do?? What to do?? Do we pack everything up and try to make it off the beach?? At this point the "beach road" [in Texas you can drive on most beaches] was completely covered by water. Leaving us with the option of trying to drive out in soft sand or water. Neither being good options. While discussing this for maybe 5 minutes at the most... our tent was now in the water too. The water level was rising and it was rising quickly. We began throwing everything in the car... kids... sleeping bags... chairs... coolers... everything! If you know our family and the beach, we always try to wash everything off before it goes back in the car. Even the kids wash off their feet and change clothes before getting all the way in. We always try so hard to keep the sand out of the car. Not tonight. Everything sand covered or not was getting thrown in the car.
Once we were loaded ... we crossed our fingers.. said a silent prayer ... and began to try and turn around and get to the exit of the beach. The turn around was successful.. but we still had a long way to go. It didn't take long and both cars were stuck in the sand. We attempted to push the truck (which was REALLY stuck - I mean the back sitting on the sand stuck) out ourselves, but there was NO way that was going to happen. Lucky for us, a bunch of college-aged guys with beers in hand, pulled up next to us in a 4-wheel drive pickup. They offered to help. They were wonderful! We are SO grateful they were feeling kind that night. They helped us get both the cars out of the sand.. not once or twice... but at least 4 more times! It only took us another hour and a half to get off the beach! By 6 am we finally made it home.
It was a crazy night! But we still had a lot of fun! I commented to John... "You can't say we didn't try to make some fun memories." It definitely did not go as planned, but everyone had a great attitude, which made for a great night. The kids were troopers. Abigail just couldn't understand why were just moving the tent to the drier sand. Another time we told her. :)
I learned the next day (after talking with the Petersens about the adventure) that Nate, who had broke the frame on his glasses, had attempted to put in his contacts during the digging-out part of the night - but one blew away in the wind!! Another prime example of the craziness!
Trying to get things setup
Can you see how windy it was? I kept trying to get my hair to stay back... I finally gave up.
Connor was SO tired. Thank goodness.
Roasting marshmallows and smores in the campfire.
Leaa and her angel baby Corinne
Yummy Campfire Treats
Can you see the waves coming??? They are! The wheels of the van are in water in this picture. Crazy!
The kids waiting in the car patiently as we try to dig the car out of the sand. They weren't too excited about the flash.
I still haven't figured out how to take very good pictures with low light... some day :)
Most of Monday was spent trying to clean up from our adventure. The inside of the car was covered in sand! But after the work was through, we decided to cook those dutch oven cobblers we had planned to do on the beach. So we had a little party with friends to finish off the crazy weekend. :)
Dutch Oven cooking in the garage.
Three of the crazy girls (mine included) jumping and playing in the rain.
