Saturday, September 5th

We wanted an early start to avoid the crowds heading to the beach today. However, the Bulman’s came online as I was checking emails so Becca had a skype conversation with Maddie; she was so happy to be able to ‘see’ her friend. Skype is such a fantastic way for the kids to keep in contact with their friends (and ours too of course! Dave has also managed to figure out a way of keeping our local number and having calls forwarded to a regular phone via skype – he’s very creative with his gadgets and this is useful for giving our number out to campgrounds!).

When we eventually did get going, we went straight to Mt Baldy to climb the high dune there. It was our intention to return to the truck to collect lunch, swimwear etc, however, the dune brought us out directly above the beach – it was way too tempting for the kids to run all the way down the dune, as opposed to turning around and walking back the way they’d come, no surprises there! Unfortunately for Dave and Jake, it meant they then had to trek back to the truck to collect everything and carry it back – thanks boys!

We spent a wonderful few hours on the beach, playing in the water, building in the sand, heading up and down the dunes, digging holes and completing as much as they could of the Junior Ranger program. It was wonderfully relaxing. We left Mt Baldy and drove to West Beach to follow the trail there, a requirement for Jake’s JR program. The other kids just weren’t in the mood and tiredness was setting in, so we sat and watched the butterflies instead.

We went to the Visitor’s Center to receive their patches. As well as the JR booklets, they’d also worked at the beach to complete the Beachcomber patch (more sewing!). Once again, they raced into the play area to dress up, stage a puppet show and complete more insect rubbings – a good day.