Family Camp 2012

Last weekend we were suckered invited to join our church's annual Family Camp in Pinecrest. It was a somewhat last minute decision, but we're so glad we went. Our church 'rents' out an entire campsite and  there are hundreds of tents, cabins, RVs, and pop-up trailers all over. It was their tenth year doing this summer-time tradition. Ezra was in absolute heaven: dirt and kids twenty-four/seven. Every boy's dream. 

It was our first family trip as a family of four...we've definitely slowed down our travel this season compared to when we just had Ezra. I'm going to attribute that to our rough year and not because we've added another. ;)

The first night was way rough with Theo...just not use to the new space, noises and tent-sharing arrangements. Could also be from the tooth that broke throw over the weekend?! Either way, we definitely took turns napping during the day. The second night was close enough to like every other night that we woke up feeling good. The days were full of friends, encouraging conversations, yummy food {all provided for}, a trip to the lake, hikes and the like. Stuff memories are made of. 

Some of those moments I captured...

Our {OC} Weekend

If you're an instagramer and follow, I filled up your feed with our adventure to visit W's family this past weekend. We were surprising my mother-in-law for her 70th birthday. It was a whirlwind trip and we packed it full of fun. 

Friday morning our AIS {ass-in-seat} time was set for 8:30 and I'm pleased to report that we made it by 8:35! The boys did pretty well in the car. Since facing Ezra toward us when he was one, he's been a fabulous traveler...Theo, not so much. But he did well.

We made great time and got to Wes and Carolyn's house by mid-afternoon. The boys set up for a cousin camp-out with the Papas. 

 The kids played, climbed trees and enjoyed the last sliver of sun. 

We got to see Shane and Alyson too because Ruth went to the hospital for Grandbaby #17's birth. My sis-in-law, Dorothy, brought Theron Joseph into the world that night. Following set-up, we had dinner and a movie {Wall-E}.

E did great sleeping in the tent! He's got Swenson Camping in his blood already. Saturday morning was lovely and slow; including a yummy bfast.

Then instead of naptime at the normal hour, we sneaked off to the beach for a few hours before the final prep for Mama Judy's party.

It was such a great time. There really wasn't much time left for extras this trip which made me sad {Ams, I wished we could have seen you!!!} so it was super nice to get at least one bonus activity in. For that, I'm grateful!

Then it was off to celebrate this lovely lady whom I'm blessed to call my mother-in-law!

She was beyond surprised and SO happy to see most of her children and grandchildren there. I really think she delighted over the whole deal. :) And of course, I caught some more cousin craziness!

 Eating a cupcake a la concrete.

 We all stayed up way too late, but as luck would have it, the boys slept in and we woke up in time to pack up, say good-byes, and load up the car before eleven. Then it was back on the road yet again. And who knew it would be so eventful...

We were right behind an accident on the last part of the grapevine. Since the CHP hadn't arrived yet, W got out to help and check in on the couple who's car was completely smashed up. Thankfully, they were fine and the CHP arrived shortly thereafter. And then not too long after we were back on the road after lunch, I got a call from our local police telling us our car had been hit and needed a tow. 

My parents came to give them the keys and snap some pictures so we could see. Yikes! So sad! This car has been my car for the last 13 years. Definitely an end of an era. Of course, at this point it's only W's commuter car, but horribly inconvenient for us nonetheless.

By the time we arrived home, the car was towed and turned over to insurance. I didn't even get to see it in person...probably better that way. But it definitely was the talk of the neighborhood since two others were hit. 

The boys did so outstanding the whole way back and we made really good time. Once back, we did some yummy fast food, biked a few times around the block for good measure, showered and put the boys to bed.

Quite the weekend, indeed!

Headed Home

After coffee and breakfast, we said our good-byes to Wes, Carolyn, and the kids. We hopped in the car to make the long trek home. Along the way, we had lots of beautiful scenery to take in.

Just outside Bodega Bay, we stopped at a little Indian restaurant for an early lunch. Both W & I were famished since we really hadn't had a decent meal since the previous morning. It totally hit the spot! Ezra did great while we ate and with some circus acrobatics, we were able to change him in the restroom. It's getting so much harder to change him since he's such a squirmy worm-y!

Back on the road with a warm sun shining.

We decided to stop at a beach a little while later. Although we were both super tired, I'm so glad we didn't keep driving. This was an awesome beach find.

It was a pebble beach! 

And Ezra was salivating and foaming at the mouth with pure delight! I don't think I've ever seen this kid so entranced before. And thanks to his trusted paci, we didn't have to worry about the choking hazard. He loved the little pebbles between his toes, grasped in his fingers, and crawling around in them...

He helped Papa bury himself...

Such a boy too!

 Happy as a clam!

We also walked along the beach...

and saw a bazillion of tiny jellyfish! They were every.where.

You can see a whole shiny string of them to the left of the footprints. We'd never seen anything like this.

And the last cool thing we saw as we headed home was the city across the bay. Love that place! Ezra totally conked out after his pebble beach experience and slept hard for almost two hours. Never happens. Ever. I bet if we didn't have to stop in Berkeley, he would have kept going until we got home.

This adventure is definitely in my top five favorites. Such a sweet family experience!

So Here's The Real Reason...

 Wes & Carolyn came to visit:

We were the starting point for their bike & camp adventure.

They planned to bike 100 miles and camp along the way with a 3 and 1 year old. 

Pretty sweet, huh?

After staying with us for a few days, we all drove north up to Gualala Point  in Somona County. Since we were driving them all that way to start their trip, W & I decided to camp with them the first night. So last Tuesday, we loaded up all our stuff, the kids, and bikes to head out.

We stopped off in Berkeley at Carolyn's brother's place to say hi and drop off W&C's car. Dan and Liv were meeting them the last leg of their journey. They were all biking in over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Berkeley. I only took a few shots of the kids playing during the super quick visit.

After Siah blew out another candle and opened another gift, we were back on the road. We drove about 4 hours to the campsite. The only big event was Charis barfing all over Carolyn when we were only 10 miles from site. Everyone was exhausted and so over being in the car....especially poor Charis! We stopped quickly to clean them off and made it to the site to claim the very last spot! Phew!

A post-shower Charis. Feeling much better; ready to explore and eat leaves!

Siah collecting sticks for the campfire.

After just one drive & night spent up here, I kept asking W why we've never vacationed north before!! Saying it was beautiful would be an understatement! We've never been to a more gorgeous campground before. Big clovers and bright green ferns covered the ground. With giant redwoods and brush creating a natural fence, we couldn't even see our neighbors.

Swenson Family getting cozy and settled into our tent!

(Thanks, Auntie Kelly, for the warm snowsuit!)

Ready for bed! 

Ezra did soooo much better falling asleep this go around. It still took him about 30 minutes but with no crying! Yippie! He peed through his diaper though so we were up in the middle of the night. And I was pretty chilled the first half of the night. I doubt I got much deep REM sleep. But definitely still loved it! Hopefully, next time we'll go more than just one night & I'll pack more layers!

Camping.

Perhaps we really are crazy! But we survived a quick camping trip while the Jenkins were here. So that made: four adults, two infants, and two dogs all sharing a camp site around Lake Chabot. W & I have camped here several times when there was just two of us, definitely a different experience this time.

We had to pack a ton of stuff.

Tim & I had a tent skills war.

{And I won!}

Our friend, Mel,  came to visit for a few hours & held E so I could beat down Tim, unencumbered.

E also tried out his new ride. Loved it.

He also really loved crawling around in our tent.

The boys played together in our tarp hallway.

After this weekend, Tim officially dubbed our little E as the "open-mouth baby". I have no clue why.

We devoured some delicious steaks authentically "flame-broiled".

{This is what the men were doing while the woman-folk played with & took a ridiculous amount of pictures supervised the babes.}

Lots of stuff to unpack {and re-pack, load & put away at home later.} See those two sticks? I took the liberty of whittling them for roasting marshmallows. And that's the extend of my wilderness skills, besides beating Tim at tent making. ;)

So things were going super well. Until bedtime. Yeah, we all know what's coming next... We did our little routine and I tried to put Ezra down for the night. But he had different plans. It took him a much longer time than normal {insert about an hour} to finally go to sleep. Thankfully, it wasn't meltdown status. Definitely not the fun part of the trip, but we weren't surprised. It wasn't great but it could have been a lot worse. And he made it up to us by sleeping in. Nice kid, that one. 

The next morning we hung out and ate breakfast before W had to go to his Saturday class up the road. One of his last classes this quarter is an outdoor class & they were orienteering {using a compass} in Oakland which was about a 25 mins. drive from our camp site. 

 So with W gone, I did what any other mountaineer Mama would do. Kirsten helped me strap in E so I could help with packing.

Her smile really says, "I'm so happy I don't have twins!" :)

Ready for work!

After loading everything up, we took a quick hike to Lake Chabot before picking up W from his class. Lucky guy totally missed all the packing! Sheesh!

And Ezra & Ethan solidified their growing friendship on our drive to W. Here they are going in for the grab.

BFFs forever. They shook on it and then held hands.

So, would I do camping again with an infant? Absolutely. It was really fun, besides the bedtime ordeal. Having another couple there was also extremely helpful because W & I could do things together as oppose to one having to stay at the campsite while the other went off if we were alone.