Here's a bit of my original blog about Leo Carrillo - with some added photos just for you family folks!!! Thanks for the great memories those few days!! My kids absolutely loved 'roughing it' with you guys! Thanks for making it easy for us to ease back into family life in CA - we loved hanging out with you!!!
Throughout my childhood we would finish off the summer with a bang - our annual family camping trip to the beach!!! I loved this week (and not only because my birthday usually landed during it and I could really ensure my tan stuck before school started)!!! Long days were spent bodyboarding, body surfing, taking naps in the sand with salt stuck to my shoulders, playing card games and hanging out til "the best time of the day" when the sun just started to lower and the breeze would turn just cool enough to make the trip up the hill more bearable. Of course, those were the days when I didn't have to prepare meals, the only person I had to bathe was myself and I could sleep in if those younger cousins didn't make too much ruckus!!! I guess those days are O-V-E-R!!! But... finally, after all these years, we did get to join the family for another one of those camping trips!!! This time, I went as a parent... and I still loved it!
We didn't get our usual place in San Clemente, we went north instead to Leo Carrillo State Park - where everything was a bit different, but still familiar enough. It was a great chance to hang out with my cousins and their kids... Hunter was surrounded by boys to learn from (read "push and be pushed by") and Helena got her share of cuddles and exploration time too. All in all - pretty much the way I remembered it - loaded with laughs!
Of course when you go camping you need the same amount of stuff if you're going 3 days or 10, so my dad - the professional packer - worked his magic again to load it all up for us. Then he said good-bye and kicked back in his cozy house for a couple of nights! Smart man!
It was great to see both grandparents doing this still - thanks to Amber & Jason's tent trailer that made it possible for them to sleep.
It was fun to hang around the Ford family and all their boys! Hunter loved Mason & Luke (names he can still remember). We enjoyed hearing about their past year on the East Coast and look forward to having them join us in Asia... hopefully we'll get to visit each other within the next year.
There was a little hill we got to climb - thankfully this one was just for fun - we didn't have to carry all our gear up and down. Once Hunter discovered he could climb, though - look out!!! He was loitering around the rock for the rest of the afternoon!!
This beach was quite a bit more rocky than we're used to - but it made for an interesting walk later in the afternoon when the tide went out. The kids found plenty of crabs and starfish to keep them entertained for a bit.
Now here's a smart cousin - instead of basking in the sun, Stephen was hiding from it... perhaps he's a NZer at heart too!?! It was great to have him & Aunt Monica come down to the beach for the day! Thanks for making the trip!
Definitely a familiar sight - Grandpa catching some zzzz's at the beach!
I'm glad some other things don't change...
like those card games at the beach...
and plenty of time to just sit and chat around the campfire.
With everybody gathered together, they sang Happy Birthday... to me!!! Wow... what a treat!! We got to celebrate my birthday (a few hours early) with a bunch of my rellies at the beach! Growing up, we'd often be camping during my birthday so I was spoilt with attention (and the rest of the gang was spoilt with cake & brownies on the night) and had my favorite folks around me throughout the day! It's been a long time since I've been around for my birthday, let alone on the beach with the extended family... Thanks for making it special!!!
