Camping

We took a random (pretty last minute) one-night camping trip with the boys this last Wednesday. The boys have been wanting to go camping and cabin camping is the closest I can come to doing that. We found a place in Santa Barbara (just North) that had cabins to rent and a special dinner package for the night we were going. So off we went... J worked from home and I left work a little early so we could try to avoid some of the traffic. We still hit some but it only took us a little over 2 hours to get there. Along the way, the boys were SOOO excited - they were punch happy in the car, completely entertaining themselves by being overly goofy and excessively loud. We tried to get them to be less noisy but at least they were laughing.

When we got there, they were so excited (to be out of the truck) to check out the cabin. There was a loft with an industrial strength metal ladder to get up to it. There were two twin mattresses up there for the boys. They went up and down the ladder at least 30-40 times! They loved it. Both asked if we could live there... and when I said no, they wanted to know how many nights we could stay. They were in heaven. S went around organizing everything. Both were extra wiggly checking everything out.

Our dinner was delivered - it was an amazing package of marinated tri tip, baked beans (ready to just be warmed up on the fire), green salad with great dressing, garlic bread, fire wood, utensils, and a s'mores kit of marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, and metal sticks for roasting. J BBQ'd our dinner and then we sat around the picnic table and had our awesome dinner. The boys got down early and had to go back inside to go up and down the ladder to the loft while J and I ate our dinner.

We took a little walk, got ready for bed, and then took a flashlight walk to the heated pool (which wasn't sooo heated) and let the boys play in the water for a few minutes. Back to the cabin, into PJs, stories and then time for bed. Up the boys went to their loft and J & I went to bed at the same time. But the boys. would. not. go. to. sleep. They were so excited! So, we had N come down to bed with me and J went up to the loft with S. N was so snuggly. I couldn't sleep so I was lucky enough to have a warm snuggly body that kept putting his feet on my leg or his arm on my side while he slept. And, a side result (that we hadn't planned on) of having the boys sleep separately was they didn't get each other up in the AM... so they actually snoozed back to sleep in the AM and we didn't get out of bed until 7:30!!

A quick breakfast of yogurt, granola and fruit, a quick walk to the market for coffee, and then we loaded up the car while the boys climbed up and down the loft ladder and off we were.

We decided to drive to Carpenteria State Beach (which was supposed to be a super, calm beach). It was 1/2 hour from the campsite and on the way home so it was perfect. It was a gorgeous sunny day and it was the perfect beach hour. The boys never even played in the sand - they just ran in and out of the water with a full smile on their face the entire time.

An hour later, after a bunch of de-sanding of everyone, back into the car and we were on our way home. The boys fell asleep about 20 minutes in and stayed asleep when we transferred them to their beds at home. After they got up and played with their Lego's, then we played outside with the neighbors, a quick awesome dinner, a bike ride and then movie time at the neighbors - not sure we could have squeezed in more to one day.

We are definitely going to be going back... all in all an amazing day.