Camping in Doheny

Before I go into our camping trip, I wanted to brag about my 5 year old and his ability to write letters that form something! Ethan has been going to preschool 2 days a week and has learned every letter (almost). He loves trying to write things and for the first time wrote his name and his brother's name at the same time. We're still trying to work on upper/lower case, but he did a great job!

The proud writer..

I thought I'd start the camping trip pictures with this funny one of dad. We all broke into the chips and sodas when we finally got set up. Mom and dad joined us during the days, but since there wasn't a whole lot of room (and to alleviate neck pain), they stayed in a local hotel near the campsites. Let's just say that it was a tight fit, but out of the 3 leftover spots when I reserved our camp time, this one was the best. The one behind us....don't even TRY to set up a tent there....tiny. Although it felt a whole lot MORE tiny once the 35 foot trailer pulled in. All of a sudden there was a huge blockage of the sun and the beach as it backed into its' spot.

The boys (and girl) digging in the dirt. The nice thing about camping is it doesn't matter how dirty you get....although sand getting in certain areas are not comfortable and that didn't happen TOO often, right mom? ha ha! The kids loved the campfire, the food, and just the fact that they could get as dirty as they wanted to without me getting upset. Ethan downed 2 smores the first night. I was amazed since he's not a real sweets person (that kind anyways).

Uncle Will trying to make our fire a FIRE and not a smoke pit. It was frigid in the mornings, and it took a while for us to get our fire going at times. The cold in the mornings and the fact that the freight trains would drive by honking their horns at midnight were the negative aspects of the site. The fact that you could walk to the beach was a plus. The beach was beautiful and the kids had so much fun rolling over the berm that separated the sites from the water. They also saw a dead pelican over where the river meets the ocean. Poor guy.

Pals, enjoying camping life.

Bryan decided that since we couldn't fit our bikes on our truck to go camping, he'd borrow Mikayla's. One lady that walked by said, "I think there's a weight limit on that thing!!" We were all laughing. Doesn't pink just go with Bryan's jacket? Awww....he did SUCH a good job.

Me and mom. I think every picture has me in this sweatshirt because it was almost never taken off the whole weekend. It was fun to do a family campout and I think we may make it an annual thing. I'm glad my parents could come enjoy it too.

Here's the whole crew. We amazingly got a good picture (from the picnic table) of all of us before we left to go to McDonald's for lunch. We adults (and children) were tired and worn. I felt so weathered by the time we left, but it was a memorable experience. It was the first time my boys have camped at all, and the first vacation we've all done together too. I'm looking forward to many more!! I have so many wonderful memories of camping from my childhood, and I hope to give my boys the same thing.