Lilly and the brothers: Settin Up Camp

This day last week we were basking in one of the best camping trips we've had.

Some friends had beach campsites for Labor Day weekend and couldn't use them.

They kindly offered them to us and we said YES!!! without hesitation.

Beach camping, in Santa Barbra, at one of my favorite beaches, on a long weekend?

Make that a HECK YES!

To make the trip even sweeter, Aaron's sister's family came along.

We have 8 kids between our 2 families, all practically the same age, and all the very best of friends.

It was a whole, whole, lot of fun.

Of course, I took a zillion pictures.

I've been trying to post them all week, but these 5 am mornings have been leaving me with no energy for late night blogging.

I fall asleep at the computer and wake up to find I have typed utter nonsense.

And writing during the day is a complete impossibility since I can't even go pee without someone needing me for something, or a major emergency happening.

I certainly couldn't find time to formulate enough thoughts for an entire blog post.

This is the way life is right now and I am trying to get used to it.

It's not forever.

It just feels like it.

But back to camping.

Since I took a million pictures and there are at least a few dozen stories I want to tell about the trip, I'm dividing it up into a bunch of different moments and memories.

That way days can go by between postings and it won't bug me so much that I am not finished.

So here's the first one: Settin Up Camp.

................................................................................................................................................

Within one minute of us pulling into our campsite and setting David loose, his mouth was on the fire ring.

He spent pretty much the entirety of the camping trip looking like an unkempt, orphan child.

And he loved every second of it.

Camping with a toddler, Lesson 1: He will not be clean. Get over it.

Aaron and James got to work right away setting up our new tent.

James was, as usual, a great help.

He was so proud that he helped Daddy figure out how to build the tent with no directions--"we just used our brains."

James, you are our right hand man.

We love you, son.

William wasn't too interested in helping.
Climbing palm trees seemed like lots more fun.

But he gave in after a while and was a big help too.

After all, hammering in stakes is almost as fun as climbing trees.

David just kept getting dirtier.

The tent went up and the kids all ran into explore it.
It's huge!
We all love it.
In fact, I devoted a whole post to it over at Picnics.
I hope this big, old, canvas tent of ours will be the host of many more cold, uncomfortable nights spent with the ones I love.
Ahh, camping.
It's so much fun while you're there and so much more fun when you come home to a clean bathroom.