Carp - Thursday

I need to speed things up...I am falling dangerously behind and losing steam :)  

Thursday in Carp was a little more mellow.  We finally got out for a nice long walk.  How is it we can go on vacation and be all together with no major plans for a week and it still took us until Thursday to find time to head out for a walk!?!

But it was a gorgeous morning and we stopped to see the sea lion sanctuary (unfortunately there were no sea lions, but there was a good view of the pier).

And on the way back Wes had to show me this "oozing" tar pit that he found with Grammy the day before.  Carpinteria is famous for it's tar (the natives used it for all sorts of things, especially for their fishing boats) but  in all the years of coming here, I've never seen some oozing out of the rocks like it was here.  Usually you just find it all over your feet, your boogie boards, and your bathing suit!  Kind of cool but messy as Wes had to find lots of sticks and rocks to pop the tar bubbles! 

Later that afternoon Wes had lunch with Slayder 

 and sister girl enjoyed the shade.

 Since Grammy and Auntie MoMo had left the night before and we were solo for dinner, we did a shmorgishborg dinner with the Rauschs and the Garridos and enjoyed a little bit of everything. 

 The sunset was beautiful, as it was every night.

 And we finally got around to making ice cream.  This was my pick: Fat Elvis!  Banana ice cream with peanut butter and reeses peanut butter cups.  Yum, and I'll even forgive the diss to Elvis! 

Carp - Wednesday

Wednesday in Carp was a really busy day!

Here's a few pics of our sleeping arrangements.  At home Cora is a pretty good sleeper but in the motorhome was another story! She slept in her pack and play up on the bed in the back and I slept next to her in the small sliver of bed that was left (actually it wasn't that bad).  But she decided she needed to wake up twice every night!  I would feed her the first time and the second time I would have to hold her while holding her paci in her mouth until she fell back asleep, which usually only took a minute or two.  But she would not go back in her pack and play after that second wake up so she slept next to me in between all the pillows.  She would snuggle up to them and looked so comfortable but then it was me and her in the small sliver of bed next to the empty pack and play!  Since I've never co-slept with my kids it was kind of sweet to be right there next to her.  (Don't get me wrong, I was looking forward to getting my own sleep space back once we got home!).  The top picture is Cora snuggled up in the pillows, the bottom left is Cora playing on Grammy's bed, which is the table, and bottom right is her playing on the couch bed where Auntie MoMo slept.

Like I said, Wednesday was really busy and Mike started off the day making us all french toast and then later cooked up his famous mac and cheese for the family meal pot luck dinner. (It's a huge adjustment to make mac and cheese - or any meal - in a motorhome kitchen!)

If I haven't mentioned in before, Cora is my climber!  Here she is climbing up to sit on the dash of the motorhome.  The view was pretty good!  Grammy said Auntie MoMo liked to sit in the same spot when she was little too.

Before Mike could make the mac and cheese, we needed to make a trip to the store, so we left the kids with Grammy and rode our bikes into town.  We may have taken a little detour and stopped at a local brewery that we haven't checked out before :)  We had this sampler and some pretzels and enjoyed a relaxing moment together!

Then Wednesday afternoon was the annual beach tea party.  This was Cora's first time attending in person.  I think she got to taste more of the goodies last year when she was still in my belly!

And since the boys aren't invited until after the girls have had their fill, they played on the beach and waited patiently for a treat.

Wes borrowed this scooter and gave wheeled transport another shot (still not much success).

And that night was the family dinner potluck.  Uncle Kevin smoked some (a lot!) of pork for pulled pork, Mike and Todd made several BBQ sauces and everyone brought a dish to share.  There was salad, coleslaw, beans, mac and cheese, and watermelon.  I really enjoy this tradition, and it was perfect because the spot next to us remained open all day, so we had lots of space to enjoy our dinner together!

Carp - Tuesday

Tuesday was another busy and fun day (though we were starting to remember how much work camping is! Isn't it funny, or maybe a blessing, how you forget how hard vacations are until you are on your next one!  And now since we have two kids it means double the work, but it's all worth it in the end.

Enjoying a very juicy peach!

Trying out (with little success) a balance bike we borrowed from Wes' friend AJ.  And Cora loving her car we got as a hand-me-down from Luke back when Wes was little.

Enjoying this giant sandcastle city, that someone else built :) 

Yum, sand!

Best buds at sunset.  Don't know what's up with Mr. Crazy Eyes, but I do know he's realized how much fun it is (or maybe he likes how irritated I get) when he makes silly faces for my pictures.  Three, what can I say!

Eva and Auntie Chrissy (love Cora's heart buns in the background). 

Auntie MoMo arrive this afternoon to spend Tuesday and Wednesday with us.

And of course more s'mores, its what you do when you're camping :)

Carp - Monday

On Monday, we put our bad start behind us and began to enjoy our vacation.  All of our friends were there, (over 15 families!) including Auntie Chrissy, Uncle Kevin, Cody and Eva.

The weather was gorgeous, so we got out to the beach to enjoy it!

Grammy, Wes and Noah

Getting all cleaned up after a fun day.  Grammy said this was how she bathed Auntie MoMo. (so funny to think of Monica as little kid like Wes, but I can totally remember her like that!) making a little bathtub in the motorhome shower.  

After dinner we definitely needed a s'more.

And here's where Wes and Mike slept the entire week...in a tent behind the motorhome!  There was plenty of room inside, but Mike thought Wes might like to "rough it" and did he ever.  He slept great and loved needing a flashlight for everything at night!

Carpinteria 2012 - Sunday

Here are our pictures from our annual camping trip to Carpinteria (it's just easier to do the pics from each day, so there will be many posts!)  We left Sunday August 13th for a very eventful week!  Grammy and Grandpa were leaving for Alaska on Saturday and since they weren't able to come for the whole week they let us use their motorhome (saving us a lot of money!).  Grammy stayed Sunday through Wednesday, Grandpa just stayed Sunday night and Auntie MoMo came up on Tuesday for one night.  So here we go:

  

Like I said it was an eventful week and the drive up was no exception!  We were about half way there (near Pepperdine) when the motorhome had a blowout flat tire!  Mike (who was driving) and Grandpa were in the motorhome and Grammy, me and the kids were following them in Grammy's car.  I was looking out the side window so I didn't see the blowout, but I heard the loud "bang" and Grammy saying "oh my goodness!!" over and over.  When I looked forward I saw the smoke and saw the motorhome swerve to the left but then got under control and Mike pulled it over onto the shoulder.  It was totally God protecting us because there were no cars in the lane next to the motorhome and a wide area to pull over to out of the way of traffic.  (I know my dad would have done fine, but I'm so glad Mike was driving since he's use to driving long vehicles!)

They thought they would be able to put on the spare themselves, but we ended up calling AAA (and thankfully Grammy and Grandpa have recreational vehicle coverage!) and they were able to drive it to a tire shop to have all 6 tires replaced!  Since there was going to be a several hour delay, Grammy and the kids and I headed up to Carp and Grandpa and Mike stayed with the motorhome.  It was a bummer way to start our trip, but we are so thankful for God's protection and for those (fairly specialized) tires being in stock on a Sunday! 

But we all finally arrived, got set up and enjoyed dinner together, though much later than we expected!

Why I Blog...

...and why I'm taking time off. (ok, not just yet, but soon)

I have been blogging now for over three years and I must admit that I love doing it. Not love it like it's my favorite pass time, but more of a -someday I'm really going to love that I did this- love it.  But I also love doing lots of other things, like crafting, baking, exercising...all things that seem to have taken a backseat to kids, responsibilities, schedules and yes, blogging.  So I think I'm ready for a break...of course I need to get caught up first and finish out the year since Cora will turn 1 in November and then it will be her first Christmas where she gets to really participate in all the fun.  Mike suggested that I just blog about the big and important things, but I'm more of an all or nothing kind of girl and just blogging some things will make me wish I was blogging them all.  The benefit to recording all the things we've done is that I remember so much more and what I can't remember, I can look up very easily!  I also know where every picture file is on my computer!!  But the main benefit is having this printed record of my children, our greatest blessing from the Lord.  It's so cliche, but they grow up so fast and I'm thankful to have captured most of the beginning in pictures.

Go Giants!

On August 11th, we helped Chelsea and Avery celebrate their 6th and 3rd birthday's.  The party was sports themed and all the kids were supposed to come in their favorite sports outfits.  Since it's no secret that we are all Giants fans (go ahead and boo and hiss, I know you are thinking it in your head) I thought it was the perfect opportunity to sport all our gear!

  A big thanks to Auntie Caitlin and Auntie Madison for Cora's awesome bow...

...and thanks to Slayder for Wes' Giants outfit.  And you can't really see it, but Mike got me my Barry Bonds (I know more booing and hissing) jersey a couple of years ago and this is the first time I've worn it!  Sorry no pics from the party but the kids had lots of fun!  Happy Birthday girls, thanks for the opportunity to fly our black and orange!  

A Day at Canyon Lake

On August 8th, we invited ourselves joined Auntie Madison and Uncle Nathan in Canyon Lake so we could see their new house and spend some time on their boat!  It was HOT, so a morning on the lake was perfect! I haven't been out on the water here since Mike and I were dating (Mike's dad and family lived in Canyon Lake while he was growing up) and it felt like old times!

Wes was so excited, he loves boats and had a blast going fast!  Cora girl was a little uncomfortable in her life jacket, but she was a trooper.

Grandpa Al came too!

Daddy wake boarding.  Uncle Nathan said he would get a ski for me for next time!

We stopped in a little cove so we could cool off.  Wes just needed a little coaxing and then he didn't want to get back in the boat!

Uncle Nathan and Cora discussing something important.

Grandpa Al has lots of cacti at his house and has been telling Wes about the prickly pears for a while.  Wes was so excited to go back to Grandpa's house after our boat ride for some lunch and a chance to taste a prickly pear! Grandpa did a good job of making them safe to eat (there are a lot of prickers on the pears too!) and we all got to have a taste. I'll just say it wasn't my favorite...but Grandpa was telling us how delicious prickly pear margaritas are so hopefully I'll get to try one of those next time!  Thanks for having us out Auntie and Uncle and Grandpa too!