family camping

We had one last hurrah for the summer.

A road trip, not too far away.

To the city of Carpinteria for some beach camping.

It was my girl's first time ever camping besides the backyard,

our first time camping as a family,

and my first time camping right across from the beach.

They were all pretty excited, Piper included.

Our adventures took us a short walk/bike ride away to the dog friendly beach.

And guess what, it was Piper's first time seeing the ocean.

It was pretty cool for everyone.

Relaxing and downright beautiful.

And then my adventurous boy doing what boys do

started jumping from those rocks, running around

and doing it again.  I just said, "You probably shouldn't

be doing that, because you don't know what's under the

water there."  He assured me it was fine.

And a moment later was screaming "crab, giant crab!"

 with blood gushing from his ankle.

And I suspected he probably stepped on a sting ray.

This child has one of the highest pain thresholds.

He broke his arm clear through both bones without crying.

But he was writhing in pain and barely able to walk from this.

Fortunately we got him to the lifeguard headquarters

where they got the hot water ready and confirmed it was a sting ray wound.

We all learned a little science lesson that day.

The lifeguards informed us that the poison in the sting,

(which is really more of a deep puncture wound by the way)

is a protein and putting it in hot water cooks it like an egg,

it coagulates and is drawn out.

Pretty trippy. 

And so for two hours they kept him there.

They let him shower and eat some cake.

Because his bravery called for some kind of treat, poor kid.

They said a fifteen year old girl earlier that day

was going into shock and throwing up from the pain.

And described it as being similar or worse than childbirth.

So he now knows about 

the stingray shuffle.

And I think he also learned a hard lesson

that when Mom cautions about something, 

she just might have good reason.

The pulling out of the poison took until

sunset, so we got to enjoy it from

the lifeguard station.

And then the view from our camp.

After dinner, the night called for s'mores.

And what they called the roasting wars to find the perfect 'golden delicious.'

The next day, my husband so graciously made a 

starbucks run to go with breakfast.

It kind of helps that everything is walking distance away.

Despite not sleeping so super well

due to the family of five racoons climbing up and down the

tree above our heads and the nearby train causing our dog to howl

her head off, we still had a fabulous time.

The kids loved the park just a few steps away.

And I loved the walk through town.

Especially the fun antique shops!

A used book store was calling all of our names.

Each kid got to pick a book, at the price

of a dollar an inch.  

I almost forgot to mention,

Piper's favorite part,

Squirrel hunting.  

There were plenty just waiting to torment her.

Then we ventured for another trip to the ocean.

My son said he would not go in.

But eventually he did.

And all was well.

And last, but not least the day rounded out perfectly with a gorgeous sunset.

God did not disappoint.

All in all, it was a really beautiful

first time family camping experience

and a wonderful way to say goodbye to summer.

birthday road trip

My husband surprised me this weekend and told me to have my bags packed.

We left at 1:00 on Friday.

He was very secretive.

And was throwing out curve balls to keep me guessing.

Our destination turned out to be one of my most favorite places ever.

The last time we were here, was 11 years ago, for a special birthday of his.

In case you're wondering it's the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.

They so sweetly put your name on the front of your cottage.

Last time, they also put our dog's name with a care package for her.

I loved that.

And adore the understated coziness.

This is where Jack and Jackie Kennedy spent their honeymoon.

It's simple, and charming, with hiking trails all around.

It felt like we were a world away.

Saturday we went on a wine tasting tour in Santa Ynez,

complete with a beautiful picnic lunch.

I was pretending I was in the South of France.

with miles and miles of this everywhere you turned.

The trip was wonderful..and of course all too fast.

But our son left today for a week long camping trip with friends from church, 

some he has known since preschool.  

They'll be in the mountains, having fun and worshipping Jesus.

And he'll come home filthy..and that's ok.

But we both wanted to make it back to give him a big hug before he departed.

He thought we weren't, so we surprised him.  

And you know what, I could tell it made his day.

He's growing up too fast I tell you.

And now, now we have a girls week ahead.

It's a completely different energy here without our son.

It's weird, and feels like something is missing.

But it's also kind of nice for the girls to just do girl-ish things.

And I have a post coming about my 40th bday and the 40 acts of kindness inspired by this lady.

I tried to get it put together that night.

But do you know I crashed my iphoto program trying to off load pictures from my phone.

The tech support guy told my husband he's never seen anyone with that many

images stored on their iphoto.

It's time to do some serious offloading.

And printing and finally putting these pictures into books.

The scare I just had of potentially losing them.

It was a serious wake up call.

After 11 hours of backing up it appears to be ok.

And soon, soon I want to write all about the birthday adventure of kindness.

he's home

We picked up our son today.


After five nights and six days away.


As I guessed, he showered, um once.


Oh boy.


He did write me though.


We got a very cute letter.


He smelled a bit like a homeless person.


You can see by his shirt, that he wore nearly every day.


Lots of fun, lots of stories, and lots of junk food.


He had just about every sugar loaded cereal he has ever wished for that mommy has never allowed.


He told me he checked ingredients and saw that there was corn syrup in things. 


A big 'no no' in our house.


And when I asked if he ate it anyway, he said, "Yea of course I did."


I guess at least he's honest, and at least he's aware of the fact that it's not good for him.


He's pretty bummed out that his five frogs are now four.  He has a little habitat for them.


He caught them at a stream where he goes to watch a friend's dog sheepherding.


We fed them while he was gone.


But this was the smallest one.


And apparently the frogs will eat the little ones if they can.


We looked it up online.  He's bummed for his little guy.


On another note...

The girls are both officially swimming.

Ava already had lessons, but now she's comfortable enough to dive off the diving board.

 You have no idea how huge this is, that Audrey is fully under water. 

Today was their fifth lesson.


For the first three lesson lets just say the protests from Audrey were very loud and very adamant.


She tried to control the situation.


Each day stressing about the next saying, "I will not go under water, you just tell her I will not.


Mom I will never swim. Never, ever." 


And the screaming and protests were so intense.  I had to walk out of sight, so she wouldn't see me laughing.


It was one of those things where you had to be there.

But that little nose in between those goggle eyes.  And the screams of protest.  It was just so darn cute.  I coudln't handle it.  She was bound and determined to not swim.


She told me and everyone who would listen how summer break wasn't very good because she was not liking swim lessons and she would never, ever swim.


But after the last lesson we turned a corner and she decided she was used to it now.


She actually said to me mom, "I'm used to it now.  What does used to it mean?"


And today, wa-la.. she is fully going under water.


Tonight she happily showed daddy over and over again how she can swim.


We went in the jacuzzi amidst the loud helicopters hovering to cover the shut down of the 405 to the 10 freeway.  They're calling it carmageddon here in L.A.  People are hunkering down and not going anywhere this weekend.


But we're taking a chance and actually having a pool party here.


Hoping that because most people won't be on the road, it'll actually be smooth sailing on the side streets.


I also got a new high tech blender for my birthday and made some chocolate mint smoothies 

that we also turned into popsicles.

We used 24 ounces of almond milk.
A handful of mint leaves from our garden.
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
A handfull of prunes (only because I didn't have any dates)
2 bananas
and 2 Tablespoons of cacao powder

The girls loved them.

My son wasn't so sure.

But his taste buds have been tainted by Trix, and Coco Puffs and such.


Happy Weekend Everyone!