Assateague Island

Yesterday, Tim was reading about Assateague Island, which is about an hour away from our house, and was very excited about taking the kids there to figure out if he would like to camp there sometime.  I thought he was talking about taking them that afternoon, and said that I would love to go...but I wasn't sure I wanted to go that same day.  He told me that he hadn't been talking about going the same day, but since I mentioned it....he suddenly REALLY WANTED to.  :D  I balked and declined and was unsure and told him he could take the older kids while I stayed home, but when he told me it wasn't as fun without me there, I acquiesced.  After the kids came home from school, they hurriedly packed a supper picnic, and we zoomed off to Maryland.

Israel entertaining Caroline on the trip over.

The distinctive aspect of Assateague Island is their wild horses!!

We saw about 5 of them.  The park ranger who gave us a map when we paid to get into the park also gave us a paper detailing how to relate to the horses - namely - don't feed them, don't touch them; they can charge you and bite you, and they can potentially carry rabies.

Israel and Gabe were immediately both horrified when they read the precautionary handout.  "Why would you bring us here?!?!" Israel asked tearfully.  "This is a terrible place!!"  This island where rabid horses look for you to chase you down and attack you and bite you.  :D  At one point while we were on the beach, Gabe went back to the minivan to change his clothes and he was gone for so long I went to look for him.  He was in the van, and informed me that something must have bumped against the van, because he heard a noise, and he thought it was probably a horse, so he immediately retreated to the safety of the van, and stayed there. ;)

But the beach won them over.

It didn't win me over, though, because it was COLD!!!  It was HOT at home, and sweatshirt weather one hour away at the beach.  I loathe being cold and the baby was dressed super lightly and I had a momentary flirtation with great crabbiness and the intention to camp out in the van until we left until I found a bag of goodwill-bound warm clothes that clothed the coldest of us.  Tim also dug us a sand fort to block the wind.

The cute little person walking in front of me on the way up to the beach.

Tim using sand the block the wind off of baby's legs before we found sweatshirts.

Zion is like me.  He likes to bring everything that we might want so as to maximize our experience. ;)  He made me laugh when I saw his energetic lugging.  He was bringing an extra shovel, a life jacket for Layla in case she wanted it, and towels for everyone.

Israel and Zion were crazy.  They were playing full on in the cold water!!

Brrrrrrr.

There was a Princess Baby there.

So I had to take lots of pictures of her.

Cuteness alert.  Cuteness alert.

Caroline eating the cereal snacks flung into the sand by a grouchy sister.

 
I actually really liked taking pictures of the birds, who were very very hopeful that we came bearing food.

Tim took Caroline down to the water.  She was just...not...quite...sure...about it all.  See her little hand clutching his shirt?

Israel stayed out in the water the longest and was totally undettered by it's temperature or the cool wind.

He was just sopping wet when he came back up on the beach before we left.

Other sights...

Gabe's silly face that he practiced diligently in the reflection of the minivan windows as we were packing up to leave.  

A deer grazing by the road as we left.  It was very not scared. 

I liked the combination of land and water.

The beautiful sunset when we got home!!

Aaaand the kids went to sleep quickly.  It was all part of my master plan...rubbing hands together.