Beach Campout (many many pictures)

We went on a family campout this week for 2 nights in Carpinteria. The week before, some friends of ours in our ward asked us if we wanted to go camping the next week. They said we could have 5 days if we wanted. (Turns out friends of theirs reserved an extra site for someone who pulled out at the last minute. Our friends took 5 days, and then offered the rest to us.) We were only able to use 3 of those days. We left Tuesday morning and planned to be back Thursday afternoon.



Carpinteria is off the 101 fwy. about 12 miles before Santa Barbara. The site we had was meant for an RV/trailer, so the area for a tent is quite small. Our family sized tent took up 3/4 of the available space.



That blue and yellow tent is in the site next to us. There's little to nothing between sites.



The kids enjoyed climbing what trees there were. They're in a Eucalyptus tree.

Duncan was a big help in setting the tent up.

Once we got the tent and everything set up, Anna lathered up the kids and we played on the beach. They didn't get too wet (by request), but had a great time playing in the sand.

We roasted hotdogs over the fire for dinner. The boys had GFCF buns. We also had chips and juice and fruit for dinner.

Then the best part, as Duncan would say, making s'mores. As you can see here, Duncan has already enjoyed one s'more, and is ready for a double marshmallow one next. The boys used GFCF cookies and chocolate for their s'mores.

Sitting around the campfire eating s'mores... Mmm Mmm good.

Anna trying to show some superior roasting technique.

After eating, we all went to bed. We made sure to put all of our loose food items and trash bag in the van so the raccoons wouldn't get into them. The ice chests were tucked under the edge of the picnic table. I was having a rough night due to some gastric-intestinal difficulties, so I was up about every 2-3 hours using the restroom. At about 3:30am, as I returned to the tent, Anna was standing at the door waiting for me. She pointed her flashlight in the direction of the ice chests and turned it on... there were about 4 or 5 adolescent raccoons eating everything in the ice chest! They just looked at us. Anna said there was a mom raccoon that was HUGE in the area too, but I didn't see it. I chased the raccoons out of our campsite and put the ice chests in the van to deal with in the morning, and went back to bed.

At 6am, we all got up to go check out some tide pools that were a short walk down the beach from us. The kids were all excited. The morning was quite a bit over cast, but our jackets were warm enough. There were lots of sea anemones but nothing else.

After the tide pools, I headed out to find a grocery store to replenish the supplies that the raccoons had destroyed. They ate our other hotdogs, the grapes, the boys' buns, the chocolate, and dirtied up everything else in there. We dumped everything in the trash, so off to the store I went. Luckily I found a Vons not far away and was able to get everything we needed, including dish soap and sponges to clean up the ice chests. I also found a store to buy some kites and a Jenga game. Those were in case the sun stayed hidden for most of the day.

The kites were a big hit! We flew kites for the rest of the morning until lunch time. There wasn't a lot of wind but it was enough to keep the kids happy.

While the other kids were flying kites, Tegan found a couple rocks and had a great time banging them together. The original "rock" music.

We don't think Tegan slept very well the night before, and by the early afternoon she was out! We laid her on one towel, she used a towel as a pillow, one as a blanked and we put one to shade her face. That left one towel for everyone else to use till she woke up.

Duncan and Liam had a great time playing in the waves. Anna even took each of them out a little further to experience the water a little deeper than their knees.

Here's a s'more from the second (and last) night. The best thing about it being the last night, is not having to save any for later. We just ate them till they were gone.

After an early dinner, we went back to fly kites. The fog rolled in pretty early, but the wind was just right for our little dollar kites. The kids loved it.

We had a great time. We got used to our crowded surroundings quickly, and made the best of it all. The kids weren't too whiny or upset at any time (got lucky with that), and accepted the schedule rather easily. Luckily our spot was very close to the bathrooms. I had a rough time but made it through without embarrassing myself. There's a good chance we'll go back next year with some other families in our ward that we're good friends with.

The whole experience reminded Anna and I that we need to try and plan a big family campout out some time in the next year. Does anyone want to take the lead on that?

We had a good time, and hope to have other opportunities like this in the future.