Our Family Vacation to Grindstone Island Day 2

Our second day started out absolutely beautiful!  The sun was shining.  It was warm.  We couldn't have asked for better beach weather.  

I couldn't resist sharing the view from the opening of our tent.  Truly breathtaking!  Note:  This picture was not taken in the morning, or else you would be seeing the sunrise as well.

Each morning, after breakfast, we did our morning routines and then morning work.  I knew if Bulldozer didn't write for a week, we'd be set back about three weeks.  If Dinomite was out of some type of learning routine for an entire week, the meltdowns would be horrible when we returned home as life went back to normal.  Each day the kiddos did two workbook pages, practiced their cursive letters, and answered a question in their journal.  Depending on how motivated they were, depended on how long it took them each morning.  Dinomite finished his work sometimes in less than 30 minutes.  Bulldozer took over two hours at least one morning as he took a while to get motivated and then was very distracted by ships going by, geese in the water, etc.

On this particular morning, Jason was helping Bulldozer.  It took A LOT of motivation for him to do his work.  Jason does so well being patient with him.  If I recall, this was the morning he took the longest amount of time.  Jason ended up using little pieces of chocolate pop tarts as incentives.

It was quite noticeable that everyone was a bit over tired.  We had stayed up until almost midnight the night before.  Those who slept outside didn't seem to sleep as well as they would have inside.  Dinomite finished his morning work and went to rest in his bed.  He quickly fell asleep.  I sent Princess upstairs to her bed when she was finished.  It didn't take her five minutes, and she was out.  Sunshine even fell asleep while resting on the couch waiting for Bulldozer to play.  And then when Bulldozer finally finished his work, I sent him in his room for a quick nap.  No lie, every kiddo took a morning nap for at least an hour, which meant Jason and I were able to nap too.  It was BLISS!

At noon, Sunshine started to stir.  Jason and I fixed lunch, woke up those who weren't awake yet and ate a yummy lunch of leftovers.  After lunch and clean up, we headed to the beach.  The sandy beach is located on the other side of the island, so it's quite special when we go.

From top to bottom, left to right, you can see everyone had fun:  Princess, Dinomite, Bulldozer and Sunshine all spent the afternoon in the water  Jason and I went in a few times too in order to  cool off, but we didn't stay in for long.  It was a bit too cold for our liking.

The kiddos also spent some quality time out of the water.  Bulldozer and Sunshine enjoyed throwing sand, rocks, and sticks into the water.  Sunshine had a blast burying Daddy's feet in the sand.  Princess built a castle that both Sunshine and she enjoyed stomping on when finished.  All four kiddos took a break from the water for a snack.  (We learned last year, the hard way, that Dinomite needs to take frequent breaks to eat when exerting so much physical activity in the water.  Otherwise horrible meltdowns follow on the way home.)  All of us had a fabulous time.  When it came time to go home... No meltdowns over sand, hunger, etc. this year!  Such a huge accomplishment for everyone!

Once back to our camp, everyone changed and played outside while I made dinner. Then, like the night before, we built a campfire and enjoyed S'mores.  We started much earlier, which seemed to help those that were afraid of the dark and nature noises.  I captured this shot while the kiddos were waiting for me to bring out the makings for S'mores.  It's one of my favorite pictures from vacation.

The kiddos kept their distance from the campfire the second night, as it was much hotter than the first night.  Still, each took turns roasting marshmallows.  You'll notice I did get a picture of Sunshine the second night.  (Hooray for me!)

After S'mores, we started bedtime routines. The girls went down first.  Then the boys followed. Jason and I were even able to spend some alone time before falling asleep.  It was a magical day!