Camping

Here's my last August catch up post. Early in the month, we drove through hours of traffic to go camping at the beach. Someone in the back seat took this while I was driving on the PCH.

We set up camp Thursday night, ate Dutch oven enchiladas, and cheesecake I made at home. We sat by the fire a while, packed up all the food and went to bed. I was really glad we were careful about putting dinner away, because some raccoons and...

...either an army of rodents, or one very persistent muddy squirrel came looking for food in the night.

One of the days we were there, I took Rachel and Naomi shopping and Stan took the other kids hiking. I think Heather took these pictures -



Friday night, we had another, bigger fire and roasted things. Hotdogs, sausages...

...marshmallows...

...bananas stuffed and wrapped in foil...

(before)

(after)

...and pickles! (that was not my idea)

We spent as much time as we could on the beach.






We missed having Summer with us, but it was a fun trip.

Heather's Photography

Family Reunion

This past July, we went to the annual family reunion on Stan's side. Here are his parents. I sure lucked out in the in-law department. They are as nice as you get :)

There were a lot of people there!

Jeff took twenty (?), thirty(?), a hundred (too many to count) nieces, nephews and grandkids fishing. He let every single kid have a turn, some even got second and third tries. Almost every kid caught a fish. Well, probably every kid caught one, but some kids, who will remain unnamed, lost one or two as well.

There was lots of teenager fun...

...and singing at the campfire.

There were marshmallows and some jaw dropping marshmallow feats performed.

We saw lovely blue dragonflies...

...humongous moths...

...and lots of deer.

It was a great trip :)

Camping with the Family

We spent the week after last Christmas at a family reunion with my parents and siblings (all except Tim, whom we missed) camping at Leo Carrillo State Beach. Parrish (who is practically a siblings) and Mindy camped with us and Richard, Lorna, Jodi and Ray spent time at the beach and museum catching up with us. My mom reserved the group camp, but it washed away in a flood (or something like that), so they relocated us to four or so regular sites and we took them over.

Mmm...we ate s'mores.

We took kids to the beach...

...and walked under the PCH to get there.

We took pictures of pelicans...

...and the adults tried (can you hear us all? Move over, hold still, stop picking your nose, etc., etc.) to line up the kids to take a group shot...

..which was sort of successful. I think we are still missing a couple.

Some of us also went to the The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. They had an insect zoo, where Rachel tried to eat lunch...



...and a children's area where the kids got to touch....

...and (getting silly now) to wear.


We kept busy with all the regular camping stuff, plus trying to stay dry in torrential rains...

...but still had time for puzzles...

...bubbles...


...and tattoos!




Matt and I picked some out for each other.

I loved spending time with my family and seeing Stan and the kids hang out with them. It is a treat we don't get to enjoy very often. Thanks everyone for coming!