Camping at Queens

We've camped at Polihale quite a few times now, but never at Queen's Pond, a couple miles down the beach from where we normally camp. Queen's Pond is nice because it has a cove and the waves are small--terrific for the kiddos. The weather was perfect and the stars were bright without the moon.

Photography by Karen (with Brady coaching the Iso settings):
Zac eating his "fishies"--clearly we didn't get him in his swimsuit in time.

Porter hamming it up for me:

Chad and Mary--they seem to know the more "local" spots on the island--including getting the key to the gate that enabled us to skip the 5 miles of potholes to the beach.
Melissa and Lance claim to not be outdoorsy, but have now come on 2 camping excursions within weeks of each other:

While we were setting up camp and getting dinner started, Zac and Will found a sand dune to play on. They loved it. In front of a bunch of teenagers, Zac took the hill rolling down (from the halfway point) and floored them all. We are just happy he survived without injury! Of course that meant he wanted to do it over and over again.

I love Polihale sunsets so much--they're the best on the island.

Apparently when you camp local-style, it's okay to have a fire on the beach. It was actually exciting, although I felt kind of guilty.
Ever since we started taking our tri-fold mats camping, our sleep on the beach has been exceptional. It's like a new world. It's obnoxious to bring them, but we never regret it in the morning.

The morning started out with us taking our runs. I actually ran barefoot on the beach for the first time and fell in love. My calves still hurt today--3 days later. I will never be the girl running in a bikini in front of a bunch of people, but on a seemingly empty beach (with running clothes), it was exhilarating.

The story of cameras and Zachary--here he is running away and shaking his head "no":

"Mommy, can I have this?" The next day at nursery, Will came up to me, held my hands in his, looked up at me with huge eyes and asked, "Do you remember that time we went to the beach?" What a darling.

We splashed the morning away with a football. This picture would be more exciting if he caught the ball.

Ah, there's a catch:
Not exactly setting up for a spiral:

The best part about camping--besides the roasted marshmellos, scenary, ocean waves crashing all night, and hours of conversation and laughs--is that you come home feeling like you were away for longer than just a night and a day. It's simultaneously refreshing and exhausting. Can't wait to do it again.