Camping at San Elijo

Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone and our camping trip is now behind us. The camping gear is all put away, the laundry is all done. The only evidence of having been at the beach camping are the tans we're all sporting!

The car was completely loaded and the bikes were hitched to the back of the van and we were off for the weekend once we picked Hannah up from school. Once again, our camping destination was San Elijo State Beach Campground with church family. There were five families on two sites right next to each other and we had a great time.

We arrived to the campground shortly before 5:00 and got our tent pitched and the rest of our stuff put in it's proper places for the weekend. Following dinner, a walk to the top of the steps was in order. The tide was high which didn't keep Rachel and Daddy from walking the beach a bit, but Hannah and I hung out on the steps for a spell. As you can see here, she's trying to let her bangs grow out, thus the need for the barrettes. The evening that followed was one filled with games around the picnic table, fellowship around the campfire, and yummy treats. As always at the end of the school week, Hannah was tired and was the first to go to bed. She got a good nights sleep and was up and raring to go come Saturday morning. While we woke up to overcast skies, the sun broke through each morning by 9:00 and it made for a beautiful day. Late Saturday morning, we packed up our chairs, our umbrellas, sand toys, and lathered everyone up in sunscreen and headed down to the beach for a few hours. Last summer when we were camping, Hannah tried out boogie boarding and loved it. Except that night, and the days to follow, she had a really bad neck ache from holding her head up as to not get water splashed about in her face. That detoured her from trying when we were here in October, but somehow she got up enough courage and gave it another try on Saturday...and loved it! She didn't do it as much as last July, but at least she got back on the horse and gave it another whirl. On Sunday afternoon, Steven and Hannah spent a couple of hours making this sandcastle, which later Rachel came long and destroyed in a matter of seconds. LOL. Sunday evening, Uncle Bart came and visited us and had dinner with us. He's always so good to provide a truckload of wood for our campfires when we're camping here and it was nice to have him come and join us for dinner that evening. Everyone enjoyed having him and talked about how nice he was, and how appreciative we were for the wood for our fires. I snapped this picture of Hannah when her and I walked Uncle Bart out to his truck parked on the Coast Highway. I'd never noticed the sign before and was grateful Hannah cooperated for a picture. As our camping trip got closer and closer and I began realizing who had campsites and who didn't, I started to panic in thinking that none of the regular friends who have kids our kids' ages were going and there would essentially be no one for our kids to play with. But the week before our trip, I learned that another friend and her two boys would be pitching their tents and joining us. Which gave our kids other kids to play with! In addition to these two kids, all our friends were GREAT with out kids - bringing surprises, special treats, inviting them into their trailers to watch movies and then popping them popcorn. Our kids were spoiled and very well taken care of this weekend by all our friends. The girls also enjoyed the three dogs that were also camping on our sites, Hannah especially loved walking them and petting them and just being around them.Another great weekend away. With each passing camping trip, our camping adventures just get easier and easier with the girls. Hannah was a HUGE help this weekend in a lot areas and that also made it nice. And as always we look forward to the next time we can go camping with our church friends!