NC Trip – Sand Dunes

On our first full day in North Carolina, we visited Jockey’s Ridge State Park where they have the highest sand dune in the Outer Banks. It looks like a desert in many spots, and you would have thought that we had left Kai in the middle of a desert for all of the screaming that he did.

He actually had fun there at first. He enjoyed seeing his cousins race up one of the dunes, and then wanted to join in the next race with them and me. But after awhile, the heat and climbing got to him and he had had enough.

And when he reaches his limit, there is no getting him to calm down and persevere. He starts whining that he wants to go home, and soon it turns into screams.

He wanted us to pick him up and carry him. We did not, as he weighs nearly 60 pounds now and was fully capable of walking. We did offer him water and plenty of time to rest, but that did not soothe him. Instead, he got angrier, saying mean words and attempting to spit at us and hit us.

We hadn’t gone all that far into the dunes, but that walk back to the car seemed like forever.

Day 1, and it was a preview of what we would experience periodically throughout the rest of our vacation.

Over time, I have a feeling that the bad memories will fade and we will remember the beauty of the dunes and our laughter after the races.

But I don’t want to totally forget the bad moments either. It is part of our reality right now. And maybe one day we will look back and recall how Kai used to be when he could not tolerate many things, and hopefully marvel over how much he has changed.