Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

After a busy week we made plans to take the kids out to Stanley Island. We hadn’t been yet this year and the boys have been asking and begging to know exactly when we were going to go. I always look forward to seeing what interesting objects or toys the boys pack for the trip. When we told them we were going Friday after work they hooted and hollered like I said Christmas was happening tomorrow. They both packed. Surprisingly Big Brother didn’t even use his suitcase. His clothes all went into our bag. What Big Brother got together to bring was five hot wheels and his case of art supplies. That was all! Usually he brings a minimum of ten to fifteen pounds of toys, leaves no room for his clothes, shampoo or snacks. What a huge difference from last summer when he could have sunk the boat with everything he deemed “island essentials.” Little Brother seeing it was cool to not bring a kid suitcase had us pack his clothes in with our stuff as well. At this point it was full, and could barely be zipped. Then he announces that his toy of choice is his Angry Birds. Now he has more than one kind. There is the stuffed animal ones that can take up a bit of space, there are the tiny plastic ones, and there are the game themed ones like a giant box for his Star Wars Angry Bird Death Star game. Before we can ask which ones, he came running from his room with an arm load of the stuffed Angry Birds and was squeezing them into our suitcase. The only other thing he brought was his blankie, because this was more than a day trip.

We brought their favorite snacks, groceries, water and supplies for ‘smores. They were so excited that they ran out to our car before we could get all our supplies into the trunk. We didn’t get to the island until after seven, and the boys just wanted to go to the beach. When I said we would go in the morning when they woke up they sighed and Little Brother had a pout lip out, but they quickly forgot and got busy picking up sticks in the cabin’s yard. After that they played hide and seek for over an hour. Little Brother would stop doing whatever it was he was working on to run to see the giant ships go by. Those are his favorite. The kids were in bed before ten, which seems very early on summer vacation. We brought the hidden TV out to watch a movie before bed. I went to bed after and was happy to think about how the next day was Saturday and I would be sleeping in and get to enjoy the beach with the kids.

I heard the kids up and knew where they were by the sounds of their little running feet. They were up playing tag. Hearing the loud “you’re it!” I knew it was my cue to get up and start breakfast. I stumbled my way across the room to my phone so I could see what time it was. It read 4:40am! Oh my goodness those kids were up playing tag and the sun hadn’t even risen yet. When the boys saw me they said, “hey mom! Are we going to the beach now? You said when we woke up!” I told them as soon as they ate breakfast and the sun woke up too. I watched the sun come up with the kids and they were amazed at how it was getting brighter outside. Little Brother kept saying, “any minute now.” But it was slow to the kids. When the sun finally rose over the tree line they jumped up and down, yelling, “it’s up, the sun woke up now! We’re going to the beach!” It was long three hour wait for the kids, but worth it.

They loved the little beach at Stanley Island and were content to swim and play in the sand for hours. I almost ran out of sunblock because it seemed like the boys were rubbing it off. They would swim, roll around in the sand and then swim again. Surprisingly they never took a real nap that Saturday; instead little brother grabbed a wink on the boat. We went to get pizza on the mainland and he fell asleep for a whole five minutes. That afternoon we swam in the deep water in front of the cabin and I had to drag the boys out of the water to eat and drink water. It was starting to get dark when big brother finally came out of the water for good. He didn’t do it because he was tired of swimming either; he did because I said the eels were coming out. Saturday night the kids fell into deep sleeps and actually slept in on Sunday. They rolled out of bed at nine and wanted me to hurry up and feed them so they could go swim again. We spent most of the day Sunday swimming as well, and the boys were braver than ever with swimming. Little brother was jumping right off the dock and boat into the river and getting himself back out. That evening as we headed home big brother said, “ I was in the river more than I was on land huh mom!” before I could answer little brother piped in, “me too! We are fish!”