Camping At Carlsbad with Relatives

The long awaited camping trip began Sunday afternoon. After the morning service at church, we drove up to Carlsbad State Beach.:) We stayed till Thursday afternoon.

      Setting up the tent was the main priority;)

Raising the tent....

Criss-crossing the tent poles.

While the guys worked hard, we got to sit in the shade of the trees and watch...:P

Almost done! Once the tent was up and we had unpacked everything-the camping adventure began!!

Joshua and Timmy decided to set-up their own creation of rocks here...;)

We had lots of time to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet-especially in the evening.;)

Our Evie baby is growing so fast.:)

We had fun with our mini kitchen which consisted of a propane stove, a lighter and some pots and utensils from home. This particular evening we were having pasta with red sauce and italian sausage. We had some funny adventures with our pots cooking under the trees! The first night two bugs landed in our dinner while it was on the stove!

We were camping up on the cliffs and this was the view from the deck that leads to the beach......

Good morning, Mommy!:)

We don't usually eat cereal, but on camping trips it can really save time!;) We also learned on this trip, that powdered milk is a very good substitute in cereal once the fresh runs out, plus it's so much easier to keep.;)

We woke up dreadfully early several mornings, as early as 5:30 sometimes! Here the boys are playing after breakfast. Since there was no sand down below at the beach, they used the dirt around the camp site instead.;)

Some of us fell back asleep later...not just Evie.;)

We got good excercise everyday, walking up and down these stairs!

The view from the top of the stairs was so pretty!

It was surprisingly hot and we discovered that the beach below had millions of small stones with hardly any sand at all!:P

As you can imagine, walking across these small stones is very different than sand. It can be quite painful, however, we survived.;)

Some Dutch Blitz in the tent........and I'm sitting here wondering what on earth persuaded Ryan, Natey and Caytlin to wear jackets!? This was an attempt to escape the heat.:P

The boys and Uncle Kevin setting up shade for the dinning area.;)

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Diane drove over to our site with Oma to visit, this particular afternoon.

Timmy used this box as his new costume!:P

With it being so sunny and hot, Evie got this adorable little hat from Oma just at the perfect time!

She likes holding her feet.;)

This is our "Paddington Evie." For those of you who have ever read the book series "Paddington Bear" with his marmalade...:P

After dinner we usually drove over to Oma's site to roast marshmallows and play games around the campfire, along with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Diane and Opa! I think we all agreed: that was the highlight of each day! We had so much fun! We recently learned a game on our church camp-out called Contact and we enjoyed teaching it and playing many very fun and successful rounds!

Opa really helped to keep our fire blazing-he had a big box full of papers to get rid of and the little boys were eager to help him. Nothing like throwing things into the fire (in moderation of course.;).

Uncle Kevin kept the boys laughing with his great sense of humor!

Timmy roasting his marshmallow. I love his face here.:) He really enjoyed watching the process and soon it wasn't the marshmallow he was excited about anymore.....

Ryan and Daniel roasting....

This is Opa's spot. He had a conversion v

This is Dad's family, his mom, sister, brother-in-law, and dad......

Opa took us to lunch Wednesday and here we are playing a game of contact again. Daddy's stumping us all...We had a really good time! Opa even treated us to milkshakes afterwards and then the manager gave us some complimentary cheescake!

We were very happy to discover this spot further down (driving distance)later on, which we could play volleyball and swim! We enjoyed one day at this particular spot.  We found out that the small stones all over the beach had to do with the time of year. In the summer there's almost all sand. So we pretty much enjoyed private beach!;)

Daddy caught this neat picture of Opa at his camp site...:)

Preparing another dinner-peeling potato skins into the fire pit works quite well!

This evening's dinner was potatoe soup. Mommy had a system going, peelers at the fire pit and Isaiah chopping and putting them into the pot.:)

Natey ready for dinner.

We were really grateful for the lantern we had. I think living in the city with all the outside lights we forget what it's like to be in the dark with no street lights.

We had quite a few of these visitors and they liked to help us out with whatever they could! We even had some squirrels who politely came and tore open the bottom of our trash bag! After that, the trash bag was hung from the branches where they could not reach it!

We got to see dolphins!! I was standing on the deck taking pictures one evening, when a man passing by excitedly pointed them out to us! They were very close to shore, in fact the man said it was rare they ever came out that close! They were jumping and riding on the waves and the Lord helped me to get this fairly clear shot of them!  What a special opportunity from the Lord!

Timmy, Isaiah and Joshua.;)

Daddy and Isaiah back at camp relaxing....

Here we told Timmy that he needed to pose for a picture in order to get a marshmallow at the camp fire later on......he did it!

Tickle time with Timmy:D

Daddy got this packet for the camp fire that turned the flames green and blue. It was pretty neat.:)

Isaiah got this picture of Ryan beginning his ascent up the stairs.;)

So, I will close with this picture of our site.

 We had a very nice trip and the Lord taught us a lot! He kept us safe and we were grateful to have the time to relax and get away from the busyness of life. It was really nice to be able to spend time with Opa, Oma, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Diane all together! We had planned to take a family picture but, it didn't work out. The important thing was we went, we had a good time and we have the memories, thank the Lord! We were grateful for His protection and for allowing us to take this camping trip!

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue."


                                                                                             2 Peter 1:2-3