Beach Camping

We recently returned from our first camping adventure of the summer.  We traveled into San Diego county to do some coastal camping.  We really scored with some last minute reservations.  We stayed for three nights and had a really good time.  We packed the car up (really tightly), loaded up the bikes, and headed out.

Our campground was in a great location. South Carlsbad State Park has two types of campsites.  "Ocean" sites and "inland" sites.  It depends on which side of the road your campsite lies.  We had an ocean site, which means we were right at the top of a bluff that overlooks the ocean.  We went to sleep hearing the gentle crash of waves.

The kids spent a lot of time in this tree.  It was right on our campsite. They enjoyed the view, too.

The main attraction at the campsite was, of course, the beach.

 The boys (and Mommy) enjoyed finding the Hermit Crabs by scooping the sand in the shallow water.  The Crabs would go scurrying into the sand in the bucket.

After Betsy wrote the family names in the sand, Jack wrote his.  He did a pretty good job, too.  The only letter he needed to trace was "k."

Like we wrote earlier, the beach was the main attraction.  However, we also brought our bikes and the kids loved that, too.  Jack mostly rode his own.  Arie rode on the seat of the bike we borrowed from our friend, Dave.

Of course, we did eat. Below is some of the evidence.

Hobo Pizza Pies the first night...although we thought "Camping" Pizza Pies is a better name to teach the kids. 

S'mores were part of the nightly routine.  

Arie thought the S'mores were "too sticky."  You can tell how careful he is trying to be in the picture below .

And...unsuccessful. :)

Jack, as usual, had no inhibitions.  

Not bad for camping food, huh?  Garlic bread and asparagus were done over the fire.

Also, we were packing up to leave and had this incident: Arie got ahold of the rubber mallet used to pound in tent stakes.  We didn't think much of this.  He was hitting a fence and doing some light pounding on the ground.  And then...we heard Jack screaming.  Arie hit him in the head with the mallet.  Blood was gushing out of Jack's head.  So, instead of finishing our pack up, it was time to visit the ER in Carlsbad.

Scary looking, right?   

Nice ER in Carlsbad.  Jack and Arie both got stuffed animals to take home.  

This is getting ready for bed the same night.  I think he felt ok. :)

We came home from our adventure with lots of sun, lots of dirt, lots of good memories, and one more visit to the ER than we anticipated.  Well worth it!!