Camping, Running, and the Beach, Part 1

Well, this is my second attempt at writing this blog post. I'm a little bitter. I spent over an hour typing away last night, and then just as I was finishing my post, I accidentally deleted it. I had written a bunch of stories on that post, the kind that you just write in the moment. I really wanted Scott to make it magically appear again, but I guess magic tricks weren't part of his curriculum during his college IT training. I asked him how something could just disappear into thin air on the computer, and he said really easily. I've learned my lesson. I will never, ever close my blog post without clicking save every single time. I had saved it the time before, so I didn't know it would completely disappear if I left the page without saving it again. Sigh. 

Anyway, onto our mini family vacation. Last weekend Scott took Thursday and Friday off so we could go camping, run in the Beach to Bay Relay, and play at the beach. You know you're a runner, or married to one, when your family vacations are planned around races right? This wasn't our first race vacation. We've had many fun family vacations thanks to races. When I heard about the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon I immediately wanted to do it as couples, mostly as an excuse to go to the beach, but also because I love the energy of big races. The Beach to Bay Relay is the biggest relay marathon in the country with about 2,600 teams and 16,000 runners, so I knew there would be a fun race atmosphere there. We love the Texas beach even though it's not as pretty as some beaches, but the water is warm, and it still has the waves that make Boston smile like he's the happiest kid in the world. 

On Thursday Scott worked from home until lunch, and I taught a couple classes at the gym. Then we packed up and drove to Corpus Christi Lake about 2 hours away for our overnight camping trip on our way to the beach. We realized as we were setting up camp that we forgot our camera, but we did take a couple pictures on Scott's phone. We were pretty much the only campers this day, so we got to choose the best campsite. Isn't it pretty?  Nice view of the lake right outside our tent. 

Boston had been counting down the days until we were going camping and to the beach, two of his favorite things in the world. He was so excited. Sticks, rocks, dirt, bugs, water, and freedom to explore to his curious little boy's content is his idea of bliss. 

After we set up camp, ok after Scott set up camp, we enjoyed sitting and doing nothing while Boston dug in the dirt and examined ants with fascination. It was very windy and humid the entire time we were there. The wind kept it from being too hot, but made it tricky to cook dinner. 

After sitting and talking for awhile, we walked along the lake. We saw a crazy fish that had teeth like a crocodile. It was dead and washed up on the shore. It was the weirdest fish I've ever seen. Picture a mini crocodile mouth on a fish's body.

After our walk we made dinner and roasted marshmallows on our camping stove because there was a fire ban. Then it was dark, so we just got ready for bed and hung out in the tent until we fell asleep. Boston and Scott slept like rocks, but me, not so much. I slept more like a feather being tossed around in the wind. I kept waking up either because I had to use the bathroom, or because of the wind, or because of random noises, or because I was uncomfortable. The final waking noise was the most annoying bird I've ever heard, perched on a tree right above our tent. It probably would have been cute and funny at any other time of the day, but not first thing in the morning after a restless night's sleep. It would make a few chirping noises followed by two high pitched squeaks OVER and OVER. You know how most sounds can be tuned out if you really want them to be? Well, NOT this one. Scott couldn't even tune the annoying squeaky toy of a bird out, and he can sleep through anything. He finally got up and threw a rock at it to scare it away. Then it just flew to the other tree right above our tent. Ha ha. After a few more rocks it flew out of ear range. By then I had to use the bathroom again, so I just got up and sat outside our tent while Boston and Scott slept a little longer. Nothing like camping to make you grateful for your bed and all the comforts you enjoy on a daily basis! 

After that night's sleep, and Boston pointing out an ugly bug on my leg in the dark the night before, I was starting to wonder how much I really liked camping. I grew up camping, so I've always thought of myself as a camper, but how can you be a camper if you hate bugs? Was I a camper or not, that was the question. I got my answer the next morning when I woke up and saw the pretty view of the lake in the quiet, misty morning. I decided the good things about camping outweigh the bad, and the bad things just make you appreciate the good things, which makes the bad things about camping good too. Ha ha. Is that confusing enough? In conclusion, I'm still a camper. I'm sure Boston and Scott will be very happy that I came to that conclusion. 

After Boston and Scott got up, we took our time packing up camp and eating breakfast. Then we explored Corpus Christi Lake for a few minutes and headed to the beach!

The beach was only about a 30 minute drive from where we were camping. We got there around noon and stayed for about 3 hours because we couldn't check into our hotel until 3:00. 

Sadly, we didn't take any pictures at the beach this time because Scott left his phone in the car to keep it from getting wet or ruined. But, I must say that I've never seen a happier kid than Boston at the beach. Watching Boston at the beach is one of my favorite things to do, even if I do get fried every single time! One of these times I will learn my lesson and NOT get sunburned. 

After the beach we checked into out hotel and took some much needed showers. Then we were off to the race expo to pick up our packet. This post is already long enough, so I'll write more about the race and post race activities in the next post.