Of Tents, Black Flies, Sandy Beaches, and Long Bible Stories

There are so many things to say about camping this week, but over all it was fantastic. We drove out to Terra Nova National Park and camped with my parents for three days. They were in their camper van and we bought a tent for the occasion.
We've been told to prepare for anything when it comes to camping in Newfoundland - sun,cold, rain,even snow- but our weather was perfect. It was sunny and warm the entire trip. We were able to relax, and G loved being outdoors. We brought several toys with us, but she played with a bucket and shovel the entire time - digging up sand and dirt in the campsite and filling the bucket with rocks and pine cones.
Tenting with kids can be challenging, but we tried to be pretty relaxed about it and I think it worked. G slept on an air mattress and I think was the most comfortable of all of us. M slept between us quite happily.
The first night, it was quite hard for G to fall asleep, especially with it being light out. She talked to herself and played in the tent until it was dark and we came to bed. Even then, she had trouble settling, so Paul told her a story. He began with another tent-dweller, Abraham, and continued to tell the story of the Patriarchs from Genesis. He had just made it to Joesph when G was finally asleep!
On Thursday night, we went to the interpretive theater put on by the park staff. We were unsure if it would be worth it to go (especially to keep our kids up late), but it was well worth it. If you ever have the chance to go, do it, it's hilarious.

Other highlights of the trip included picking shells off the beach with G, discovering an actual SANDY beach up in Eastport and seeing some more of this big beautiful island we live on.

There were also a few lowlights of the trip as well! G got carsick on the way out which involved a bit of a detour to get Gravol, and a bit of a stink in our already hot car. The mosquitoes weren't too bad, but the black flies were awful (in the evening). Poor M got bites on her head and G got bites around her entire hairline. I counted about 30 bites when we got home, poor thing!!
The other sadness was that I forgot the memory card for our camera, so I have no pictures of my own! My parents took plenty, however, so when I get some from them, I'll stick a few here.