Holy Moly! How in the world did I forget post about our week at the beach!?! Maybe I was so traumatized by the ride home that it hasn't come to mind until now, two months later!
So think way back to June. Remember that snow storm we had? Yes, our trip was perfect timing and the beach was calling my name. I was so excited to go to California for some warmer weather, time as a family, and relaxing. Well, you can throw relaxing right out the window but we overall we had a fun time.
We left on June 11th and headed down to Vegas and spent the night with Kim, Jon, and the kids. We woke up the next morning and embarked on the second half of the drive. We were doing great until we got to the 101 interchange (aka a parking lot) and I think that is where the kids lost it which shortly after led to Andy and I wanting to turn the car around to drive home. Because driving 12 hours home was much more logical than driving a few more hours to Jared and Annette's house. ;) We eventually made it and the kids were so excited to be out of the car and to play with their cousins.
The next day we went to church. (This could be a whole post in and of itself, so I'll try and keep my thoughts brief.) I hadn't been to the ward I grew up in since I was pregnant with Braden so it was crazy to go seven years later with four kids. I felt very old when I looked up at the sacrament table and saw Michael Heath sitting their as a Priest. I babysat him when he was a baby and now he was all grown up. Where had the time gone? I spent most of the meeting reminiscing about my youth and all the memories I had of events that happened in that building. After sacrament meeting the kids rushed off to primary and I was catching up with some of the people that I knew from when I was growing up. I was going out to the hall so I could check on Ella because she was going to Sunbeams with Natalie instead of Nursery so I wanted to make sure she was alright. I turned the corner and there was Sister Locken rushing down the hall and she said, "I knew you had to be here!" and she gave me a big hug. She told me that she saw Taylor walk into primary and couldn't believe it. She knew that Taylor had to be my daughter because she reminded her so much of me when I was a little girl. It felt nice to be "home" where people know you from before you can remember yourself.
Later that evening we made it to El Capitan Beach campsite # 79 which would be 'home' for the next five days. Somehow, we forgot the air pumps to blow up the air mattresses. Big mistake. (Repeat 10 times.) So, I started blowing (yes, with my lungs) up two (yes, two) queen size air mattresses. In the meantime, Andy is unloading and trying to get things situated because it was getting dark and the hour time difference meant four very tired children. Lets just say that air pumps will be the very first thing on the camping list next time. We were exhausted and ready for bed ourselves after we got the kids to bed only to realize that our air mattress was deflating. We checked both air mattresses before we left and no leaks. So next time, double check. ;) By this point camping was so overrated and I was beginning to wonder what in the world we were doing. (So, maybe I should have waited 3 months to write this post because everything is still so fresh in my mind and we haven't even gotten to the drive home.) We woke up early the next morning and had to run into town for a few things (like an air mattress) before we headed to the beach. But when we finally went down to the beach, it was Heaven on Earth. There is something about the beach that I just love and apparently my kids love it too. We had the most beautiful weather. Easily, top 3 best weather weeks I've ever experience in all my years of going to the beach. Which was surprising because we never go this early in the Summer so I didn't know what to expect. We didn't have the marine layer once. We woke up to a beautiful, blue, sunny sky. The water was full of seaweed and tar the first day but got better as the week went on. We were treated with dolphins everyday and a seal (or sea lion? frankly, I don't know the difference) several of the days. The kids played in the sand all day long. Ella cracked me up with wearing her crocs with socks. She didn't like her feet in the water/sand the first day and came up with that solution on her own. After that, happy as can be. Taylor tried boogie boarding once. Fell off and was done. Braden wanted to try it after her and did it a few times and enjoyed it a lot more. I think our kids are still young that they enjoy playing in the sand more than the water. Once again, Andy made a swimming pool of sorts every morning for the kids to play in, complete with steps for Lily to climb in and out of. Lily had so much fun. I really didn't know how she would do but she loved the sand, water, and the seaweed. She crawled around and was such a happy girl. Annette came down with the kids everyday but Wednesday. We even had Jared and Jason come a few evenings. The kids loved playing with their cousins at the beach. I know it was a crazy week for them with their new house but we sure loved having them come play with us!
This year was a little different from the past years because we didn't camp with anyone else. So, that meant we cooked (and cleaned up) all the meals ourselves because we didn't have anyone else to split it up with. I don't know if that made the difference or having four kids this time around but we honestly were exhausted by the end of it. In fact, we didn't sit around the campfire once the entire week. We would come up from the beach, get the kids showered and while they got dressed I started dinner and after we ate they would be ready for bed. So Andy would put the kids to bed while I cleaned up. (Yes, the kids did roast s'mores a few nights that the cousins stayed later.) But note, Andy and I hadn't even showered yet. Andy and I discussed it on the ride home and many times after that we might have to change up this tradition of camping at the beach, at least for a few years. While we had fun, lots and lots of fun, it was also a lot of work. Work in the sense of getting ready the week before we left, the long drive there, the set up/clean up, the drive home, and the unpacking and cleaning up of it when we got home. So, who knows. Maybe next year we'll stay in our condo in Pismo and start a 'go to the beach' instead of 'camp at the beach' type of tradition.
No comments:
Post a Comment