At our house, it's common knowledge that Cutie loves animals, and especially horses. So last fall, when she and New Daddy were chatting about horses, he told her about an island on the Georgia coast with wild horses. We made spring break reservations for Cumberland Island in the 6-month-ahead window. Those fell through, because I didn't send in the payment soon enough. When I realized this, I called them back and made reservations for the end of April-- and sent in the payment immediately.
Last week, we boarded the Cumberland Queen II- a ferry boat being a "first" for the kids, ready for two nights camping in a place that feels like a different world. Except that there are still mosquitoes and sand fleas, like the rest of the low country. But crowds-- not too many of those. The beach was pretty much ours, except for another homeschooling family who turned out to live a little over an hour from us. And one of the first things I pointed out to the children was the way the wind sounds through the live oaks. Now that sounds like another world.
We had purchased a Eureka Apollo 1210 tent for future family camping trips. Despite it raining during mealtimes two days in a row, we stayed dry and had plenty of room to move around. The kids were actually playing charades before bed on Tuesday evening. New Daddy had gotten up at 4:00 AM for us to make the 11:45 ferry, and I had pulled an all-nighter preparing meals; so we were dozing during all of this. But the kids had fun, even though it was wet outside. Chatting with the children in the tent in the mornings and evenings, quality family time, was one of my favorite aspects of this trip.
On Wednesday morning, we loaded up water bottles, snacks, and the Ergo carrier and hiked down the main road to the Dungeness ruins. Just below that were salt marshes, where we spotted horses grazing in the distance. I took a couple of pictures on the raw setting in hopes that the horses will somehow show up. New Daddy found a boat house on the inlet river and fished for a little while. We later heard the locals chatting on the ferry; the rains made the water too muddy for the fish to bite. But it was a relaxing morning. We stopped by the Ice House Museum to read and rest a little before hiking back to our campsite for lunch.
On our way back to the campsite, the heavens opened, and we got drenched. At first, Tater was giggling at the rain; and when he realized that he was getting wet, "cold!" was his dismayed commentary. But we ate lunch in the tent and got dressed for the beach while the weather cleared.
At the beach, there was a tidal pool running the length of what beach we could see. It was the perfect aquatic playground for children. There were hermit crabs scuttling around, tiny fish propelling themselves, and little snails making tunnels just under the surface of the sand. The kids dug, splashed, created sand walls, collected snails, ran around, pretended to be animals, and probably a whole lot more things that I didn't have a clue about. We played until supper time. A glorious afternoon.
Two nights was the perfect "roughing-it" camping trip for us. The next morning, we packed up, got on the ferry ahead of the rain, and drove back home. We just bought a Toyota Sienna, and the built-in dvd player made the 5+ hour trip bearable for all of us. We left the Odyssey club because the Sienna has two more inches of head room for New Daddy, who is 6'4". We're not thrilled about being in debt again, but it was a needed purchase. We were pleased to find that its layout allowed us to load up all of our gear with the rear split seat folded flat, and hold all of the kids, thanks to three seats in the middle row. It's great having a car with fewer miles than our beloved Odyssey (288k when we retired it) and great gear-stowing abilities. Its handling is a little tighter than the Odyssey, and it's an enjoyable drive.
Since so much of our life is bound up in food, I guess I should mention what a family on the GAPS diet would eat on an island unconnected to any land with retail stores. I boiled and chilled 18 eggs for two meals. Those were eaten, sliced and salted, with sauerkraut or kimchi (Korean sauerkraut). We actually ended up with a lot of leftover boiled eggs when we got home. For one supper, I made up a huge batch of "mother in-law casserole," sans the noodles- just buttered cabbage, ground buffalo (not bison), and shredded cheese. This sufficed for two meals, even though I had only planned it for one (forgot to bring burgers that I'd made and left in the freezer at home).
For our one fancy-ish meal on the island, I packed lettuce in a zipper bag, frozen smoked salmon, and salad-prepped veggies in a separate zipper bag. I also made up a mustard-oil-vinegar salad dressing that we could shake to reconstitute. One breakfast was lara bars and honey-sweetened kefir. And that was about it. I had two lists- a meal list, and a supplies list. Once I was finished planning, all that remained was to stay awake all night preparing it. Hehe. But we got plenty of sleep while we were on the island and arrived home feeling like we'd been on a vacation.
More posts on GAPS
I- Why GAPS for me
II- Why GAPS for the kids
III- Bubby's seasonal allergies
V- Concluding thoughts
We had purchased a Eureka Apollo 1210 tent for future family camping trips. Despite it raining during mealtimes two days in a row, we stayed dry and had plenty of room to move around. The kids were actually playing charades before bed on Tuesday evening. New Daddy had gotten up at 4:00 AM for us to make the 11:45 ferry, and I had pulled an all-nighter preparing meals; so we were dozing during all of this. But the kids had fun, even though it was wet outside. Chatting with the children in the tent in the mornings and evenings, quality family time, was one of my favorite aspects of this trip.
At the beach, there was a tidal pool running the length of what beach we could see. It was the perfect aquatic playground for children. There were hermit crabs scuttling around, tiny fish propelling themselves, and little snails making tunnels just under the surface of the sand. The kids dug, splashed, created sand walls, collected snails, ran around, pretended to be animals, and probably a whole lot more things that I didn't have a clue about. We played until supper time. A glorious afternoon.
Since so much of our life is bound up in food, I guess I should mention what a family on the GAPS diet would eat on an island unconnected to any land with retail stores. I boiled and chilled 18 eggs for two meals. Those were eaten, sliced and salted, with sauerkraut or kimchi (Korean sauerkraut). We actually ended up with a lot of leftover boiled eggs when we got home. For one supper, I made up a huge batch of "mother in-law casserole," sans the noodles- just buttered cabbage, ground buffalo (not bison), and shredded cheese. This sufficed for two meals, even though I had only planned it for one (forgot to bring burgers that I'd made and left in the freezer at home).
For our one fancy-ish meal on the island, I packed lettuce in a zipper bag, frozen smoked salmon, and salad-prepped veggies in a separate zipper bag. I also made up a mustard-oil-vinegar salad dressing that we could shake to reconstitute. One breakfast was lara bars and honey-sweetened kefir. And that was about it. I had two lists- a meal list, and a supplies list. Once I was finished planning, all that remained was to stay awake all night preparing it. Hehe. But we got plenty of sleep while we were on the island and arrived home feeling like we'd been on a vacation.
More posts on GAPS
I- Why GAPS for me
II- Why GAPS for the kids
III- Bubby's seasonal allergies
V- Concluding thoughts
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