One Last Beach Story

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago in our beach vacation recap, the week before our trip was just as rough as our week at the beach.  Coop wasn't feeling well, Karl was working around the clock, and I was losing my mind cleaning, packing, and preparing for the trip.  The day before we left, I was busy cooking some different foods for us to take with us so that I wouldn't have to cook while we were there.  During Cooper's nap, I made a chocolate chip poundcake.  The worst part of baking any cake is letting it cool though.  That freshly-baked-eat-me fragrance is hard for anyone to resist, especially a child apparently.

When the cake was done baking, I set it on the counter to cool.  About that time, Little Man woke up from his nap, so I went and got him out of his crib.  We came into the kitchen for his juice, and he noticed the cake.  He started reaching for it while saying, "Mmmmmm!"  I told him the cake was hot and he could have some later (i.e. when we got to the beach).  I carried on with my endless chores list while I thought Cooper was eating the snack I gave him in the living room.  That's when I started hearing a very enthusiastic, "MMMMMMM!!!!  MMMMM!!!!  MMMMMM!!!!"  Hmmm, what could he be so excited about? I darted into the kitchen to find this...

A cake thief!

 The damage was actually much worse than this picture looks like.  The side of the cake was missing big chunks.

He couldn't even shut his mouth because he had crammed so much cake into it!

I stood there for a few minutes assessing the situation.  I didn't have any extra ingredients to make another, but did I really want to take a cake that looked like a bear had gotten hold of it to the beach with my cousin's family?  It was in bad shape, and Cooper was enjoying it so much.  I remembered what life's supposed to be about, and it's definitely not about letting the preparations for a trip and a crazy week drive you mad.  It's about enjoying and savoring a wonderful blessing that won't be little for long enough.  So, I took my slaughtered cake, put it on the little table that I redid for Coop this past spring, and let the kid dig in!  We sat at the table together, didn't even bother with forks, and ate cake.  He loved it and laughed and "mmmmm"ed with each bite.  And so did I!