Come-on baby light the fire!

Life's not always a beach. Especially at the beach.

We headed down to the beach on Saturday for a little family time. Will wanted to see the sunset at the beach so we were trying our best to get there post-nap-time. Walker, well we all know from previous experience that he just really wanted to get to the sand.

We packed our hot dogs, our regular and gluten-free buns, ketchup, mustard, charcoals, and a lighter. Since we had no newspaper Eric grabbed printer paper. That should have been a sign.

As we neared the beach we decided to get some firewood so that we could have flames and heat as well as a place to cook. I got out and grabbed it. I couldn't get it to scan the price tag and when I tried to pull on it, it was wet. That should have been a sign.

Still - we trekked onward to the beach. We made it just in time for the 'Rainbow sky' and got set up. The boys immediately jumped into the sand activities and Eric started in on the fire. And a story was born...

Here is Eric trying to start the fire. He started with a 'tee pee' set-up
but then switched after no success. Come on fire, come on fire...

For the first 30 minutes all we got was smoke. Lots of smoke.

We soon realized that our wood was damp (duh Shell) and
also that we were out of paper. We tried using a pull-up (fire resistant)
and then I tore up a tortilla chip bag. The boys had fun trying to find kindling but
with limited success. And still the wood would not burn.

I was starting to loose patience, but Eric, ever the boyscout, kept
going. We remembered that we had a cardboard box in the car
with stuff to take to the storage unit. Soon enough I was unpacking
the box and lugging it down the beach. We all had a blast
tearing the box up - and for a while it seemed as though the fired
would take.

But, even with Will's super helperness, it was kaput.

Eric and Will tried really hard - lots of blowing (Eric)
and throwing sand in (Will).

Walker and I tried to keep our distance.
You can see how damp the air was since it
looks like there are raindrops in the picture.

The fire never took off so after tearing apart
the entire box and two hours of Eric's work
we decided to call it quits. We had enough lit
charcoal to cook two hot dogs
for the boys - which was greatly appreciated.

Walker like the bun the most.

Will's bun was...well made from tapioca.
So he enjoyed mostly the hot dog.

So - life isn't a beach. OH who am I kidding! No fire, Eric's damaged lungs, not beach hot dogs for Eric & I and we still had a blast. We're lucky to be at a place to have these adventures and this time with each other.