Camping (day2)

What a mixed day! Started off misty, then when the sun burned that away it was BAKING hot. We took our time today, over everything. Took time over breakfast (during which time Steve raced back to Worthing to get my insulin!), which sort of blended into elevenses, which blended into lunchtime; we packed things away slowly, the children played, some got packed and were away quicker than others, there was lots of sitting down in the sun or in the shade because being inside the tents packing things up was just too hot! Lots of playing, lots of suncream. Ben hat to wear my hat because he didn't have one. It was a bit too big but at least he wore it! He got a bit burned on his face yesterday and we didn't want that to get any worse.

The kids who were left helped both Steve and Stuart get their respective tents squashed down, I missed catching Stuart on camera being jumped on by his kids but they were more than happy to oblige and jump on Steve!

It's been an amazing couple of days. Our little bit of the campsite had lots of children on and they all played together! Friendships were formed, email addresses exchanged, lots of running and giggling and games. Really lovely.

Once we'd finally got all the gear packed away and the cars packed we decided to head to the beach as we'd promised Ben. We were headed in the direction of the sand dunes at West Wittering but we didn't get that far to start with, we made it as far as the village centre and the beach there. Stopped for an icecream and a play on the sand and the pebbles, and to see if we could buy Ben a hat that fitted better than my hat did. (We got a smaller one, but it didn't stay on his head as well and kept blowing off in the wind! We also got Ben and Steve some wetshoes which Ben was quite taken with.) It was a lovely beach, and there was a boating club there too so we're planning the next free sunny weekend day we'll de-camp down there with Steve's sea kayak and Stuart's paddles and send them out in the boat!

We only had a couple of hours there, so decided to see if we could find the dunes before heading home. Problem is, the road to the dunes turns out to be a very long road. And only one of them. And if you're not sure where you're going, you just have to hope. And pay before entering the (ginormous) carpark. But that was ok. We found a space close to the beach, bought some chips (note to self: take a picnic next time and avoid the rip-off kiosks) and had our tea on the beach. Which was fine until Ben came and stood upwind of us and let go of all the sand he was carrying. Which went all over the remainder of the chips.... We had a lovely end to the day though, on a sandy beach, watching Steve build sandcastles and Ben knock them down. I even got a chance to paddle in the sea! And Steve took some pictures of me, which I'm hoping he'll blip one of. I got a new self portrait which I've put on my other blip account (along with a couple of other backblips).

The only downer to the day was when we put Ben in the car to go home, and discovered he'd got a cut on the underside of his foot somehow. So when we got home he had to be woken up a little to get his feet washed and the cut cleaned up and some cream and a plaster put on... and he was not impressed at all. But he went to bed, and Steve and I had baths (Steve had a cold bath to try and take some of the heat out of his ouchy sunburn...oops). I guess that's the one thing that pebble beaches have over sandy ones. You don't need a bath immediately as you get home after going to a pebbly beach. Must remember to bath Ben tomorrow!