Ain't Life Grand Part Deux

 

 So last week we spent 3 days at Grand Beach, and had a wonderful time.  Everyone loved the beach.  The soft white sand, the clean water, the waves, it really was amazing.  We also discovered a small marshy area, and the kids tried to catch frogs.  I believe at least 2 were caught, and they were named Frogga & Kermit.

 One morning I found a large catfish skeleton washed up on the shore, and we were all shocked by how heavy it was.  We saw ducks, chickadees, 2 types of woodpeckers, lots of geese and pelicans, gold finches, and I even got to see a tiny little humming bird hovering by my brightly colored beach towel at our campsite.

At night we had 2 unexpected visitors at our campsite.  I woke up and heard a large twig snap in the woods, and then I heard the sound of animal footsteps go right past my side of the tent.  I woke Jeff up, and we both sat in nervous silence for a moment.  We had tied a sealed garbage bag to a tree branch on the other end of our site, and our hearts pounded as we heard the plastic being pulled and ripped down from the tree.  Jeff set off our van's alarm to try and scare what we thought might be a bear away.  Then he unzipped the tent door just a little, and shone a flashlight toward the tree.  2 buggy sets of eyes pierced through the darkness, and to our utmost relief, we realized that these were not bears, but raccoons.  Very large, curious, hungry raccoons.  We got out of the tent, scaring them away, and took the garbage to the bin away from our site.  Settling back into the tent, I found it very, very difficult to relax.  Every tiny little sound in the woods made my heart pound, and when I finally did fall into a restless sleep, I had serious bear-mares.

 

 We witnessed gorgeous sunsets, found empty turtle egg shells, and watched the kids have the time of their life frolicking in the crashing waves.  It was an amazing time of relaxation and family bonding, and as each of the kids have exclaimed, "We HAVE to go back there next summer!!!"