Bonafede Campers

Having just come home from camping, I am relishing every moment in my cozy, dry, bug-free home!! We had a great time this past week at the Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos (near Morro Bay/SLO). I did, however, figure out that we will most probably never camp in a "primitive" site ever again without some sort of trailer/camper/motorhome. Yes, call me a wimp! :) Having said all that, we had a great time just hanging out with friends... and nature! Here's just a few snapshots of some of the memories we made:

Matt pitching the tent (yes, I helped- I just cobviously couldn't BE in the picture too!)

The very friendly squirrels of Morro Rock.

One of our very lovely views of the Morro Coast.

Our visit to the Elfin Forest. The kids had a great time spotting lizards and almost extinct indiginous plants to the California Central Coast. (We also told them that bad children get turned into bushes here because Camryn had a horrible attitude that day. I know, horrible parents...)

The beautiful view of Morro Rock from the Elfin Forest.

Thursday night we went into San Luis Obispo (SLO) for their infamous Farmer's Market. What an awesome place!! We met our friends, the Witts, there and enjoyed dinner and walking around. We also collected a great assortment of fruits and veggies for the rest of our trip!

The next day we headed into SLO again, this time to just browse the shops and have lunch. We ate at a yummy BBQ place. Here's Camryn & Kailey enjoying their matching (of course!) root beers.

The whole clan (minus me:)

Here's me and Blakey. Yes, I did go on this vacation! (I join the rest of the mothers out there who never end up in the pictures because we take them all!)

One of our yummy camping dinners

I had this brainhaired idea to attempt these orange cakes I had heard of a while back.
Step 1: Hollow out oranges and fill with cake batter (boxed, of course!)

Step 2: Wrap in foil and set in campfire

Step 3: Open up and devour!! They were pretty good, except when you got to the bitter pithy part of the orange. Not sure if I would attemp these again... but they were fun to try!

Blakey's FAVORITE part of the entire trip- BIRDS!!

On our little hike to see the tidepools

View from our hike

There were awesome tidepools that the kids had a great time looking at.

The two peas-in-a-pod!

Riley, Tyler, Kailey and Camryn- BUDS!!

Daddy showing one of the many creatures he always seems to know all about :)

Blake loved the sea star!

And Ty's favorite were the hermit crabs!!

One of my favorite pictures- he is a great age to snap pics of!

My three beauties!!

All in all we had a great time- nothing's better than wonderful memories!!!

3rd of July Quakes Game

Our 4th of July was pretty mellow this year, considering Matt had to work, so we decided to do most of our celebrating on the 3rd. My mom had invited us to a Rancho Cucamonga Quakes minor league baseball game for that night, and it worked out perfect! What's better than hotdogs, family, and a spectacular fireworks show?? The kids had a blast, and it was actually a really good game!

Cam & Ty excited before the game

Blakey, say "cheese"!!

We invited Matt's dad, Dave, to join us since he was flying solo while Linda was in Minnesota.

Best cuzzies

That Sunday, we also celebrated my mom's birthday...
Happy Birthday Mom!

Summer- In a Nutshell

So, in order to keep myself updated, I have decided to just give you all I've got! Here's a bunch of pics of the things that have been keeping us busy this summer thus far:

For our anniversary Matt & I got a night out on the town! After walking around, people watching, and a wonderful dinner at the Grove in LA, we stopped at this really cool dessert shop in LA called MILK. It was so neat! They had all kinds of homemade ice cream, desserts and even sandwiches! I had to take pictures...

The fabulous red velvet cupcake I had...

Happy 8 years!!

Ty' swimming lessons...

Every once and a while we get to steal Gillian for a day or so. The kids decided to make this strawberry shortcake from a recipe that was in the back of a book they read together.

It was so cute watching them, and came out really yummy, too!!

Blake's new favorite pastime. I think he's going to be our ball player...

I could take a million pictures of him doing this! He's just SO cute!!!

Blake at his "Tumbling Toddlers" class

Ty at his gymnastics class

Our first beach trip this summer

We decided to go for a bonfire, and take Grandma Nana with us!

Smile!! She had a great time...

And, last but not least, water fun in the backyard!! (This takes up most of our time...)

And sometimes, we even have friends over to join us!

Nothing better that Big Sticks in the summer!!!