Camping

San Simeon was fantastic and a blast for the kids, but man am I tired. We got to the site around noon and set up the chairs, kitchen, table, kid's play tent, family tent and beds. Jesse, Amy and their three kids: Aliyah(6 yrs old), Austin(4 yrs old) and Katie(2 1/2 yrs old), and Eric, Jessica and daughter Kylie(almost 2 yrs old) were already at the campsite. Yes, I did say Eric. Now my husband Eric has three best friends from high school all named Eric; Briggs, Metcalf, and Troxell. So we were joined by Metcalf and his family. The kids immediately started playing so nicely together.

We got settled and took a little walk to get the wiggles out.

We were in the overflow campsite "Washburn" and it was further inland than the main camp.

It was beautiful and you can see below with the whole gang.

Enzo chillin in the sling.

After the walk, we came back to camp and everyone took naps except for my kids. They decided to not sleep for an hour! Enzo was so cranky and Kira was so excited about all the kids and her new friends , she could not wind down. Finally around 4:00 they both were out and everyone else woke up. I let them sleep until 5:30 because I figured they were going to be up late anyways. I got out the bubbles and the kids went to town with them and were busy while we got dinner going. Tri tip, Tofu dogs, grilled veggies and garlic bread surrounded the grill. I do not know what it is about camping the normal dinner always tastes better coming off a campfire grill. As the day slipped away across the ocean and it grew darker, I busted out glow sticks. Oh yeah, I was prepared. Luckily I bought six sticks and there were only six kids. It was great they were running around waving them in the air. At one point they crammed into the small kids tent and hung all the sticks in the middle. Next, of course, we made s'mores. "How can I have some more if I haven't had any yet?"( The Sandlot) I do love a good s'more but it is hard to perfect the perfect mallow. My mom has the best marshmallow roasting sticks that have a handle and turning mechanism that you can regulate how much heat you want on the mallow. Anyways, the kids all had a great time and of course went to sleep as soon as their little grubby heads hit the pillow from running around like crazy monkeys, dirty crazy monkeys.

The adults stayed up, talked and enjoyed Eric(my Eric) jamming on guitar and the fire. I went to bed and slept like a baby...waking up every couple hours. I was so worried Kira was going to be cold and that Enzo was going to cry and wake someone up I slept really light. Finally at around 6:20 I got up and started to make coffee. My hubby left and went surfing. He and his buddy drove to Hazards and were the only two out and surfed for three hours. I scrambled up eggs and the kids woke up around 8:30. We ate tasty blueberries, cantaloupe and eggs. Then Metcalf made pancakes and the kids wolfed those down too.

Even though the glow sticks were no longer glowing the kids were still stoked on them. I packed up our stuff and Eric came back around noon and we packed the car. Metcalf and his family went home to Salinas. Amy, her family, Trydyn(another one of Eric's buddies) and his two kids joined us down on the beach in Cambria. I got out all the sand toys and they all went down to the beach. Amy told Eric I was the best mom because I had the kid's tent, bubbles, glowsticks and sand toys. I simply replied I only know to bring these things because of all my friends. Enzo fell asleep and I stayed in the car with him. He was laying on my chest and we both slept for about a hour. We finally had to get back home. It was such a great time and I was actually really prepared for everything, thanks to my mom and all of her camping equipment. We are planning on doing it again soon.

Here is Aliyah, Enzo, Katie and Kira at the beach.


Enzo loved being surrounded by the ladies!