The Joy of Camping

I have a Love/Hate relationship with camping.

A few things I LOVE:
*Eating guilt-free s'mores (it's not a true camping trip without them, right?)
*Lay's Potato Chips and French Onion Dip
*Being out on the boat. It was Ellie's first time. We were pleasantly surprised that she loved it (after a 10-minute rough patch when she wasn't so thrilled about wearing a life vest.)*Playing cards, Catch Phrase, etc.
*Not wearing a stitch of make-up or drying my hair. No one cares.
*Drinking coffee early in the morning and relaxing. Sort of relaxing. There's only so much of that when you have a 13-month-old.
*Feeling like you have warped back in time. It's a simple life.A few things I DON'T love:
*The flies. This is a huge one for me. I hate flies more then spiders, snakes, or any other kind of pest. Yuck.
*The heat. It was the end of July. Everything was kind of hot and sticky.
*The bathroom facilities. Enough said.
*It's not necessarily the best night of sleep.
*The set-up/clean-up. There's kind of a lot of dirt, laundry, preparation, etc.

Overall, we had a great time. Angel's Camp made for a perfect July weekend. Thanks Mark and Claudia for letting us use the RV (no, we weren't in a tent, otherwise I would have a lot more to add to my DON'T love list). I hope we can go again soon, but I probably need a couple months.

Catching Up

I feel like I used to blog about more random thoughts, events, etc. and that lately my blog has become more about catching up on past events. Because catching up takes a lot longer to do, I've started blogging less. Maybe these things just go in waves depending on my mood. Anyway...it has been a fun month and summer has been in full swing. We have been staying pretty close to home and enjoying all that the East Bay has to offer (there's a lot).

Poor Knute sort of got the short end of the stick when I never made a Father's Day Post. He is a wonderful, involved, and loving father. Ellie is a lucky girl to have him as a dad. The Saturday of Father's Day weekend we went to Tilden Park in Berkley. Knute wanted to take Ellie on the carousel and didn't realize that other parents stand NEXT to their children when on the ride. He decided that he wanted to ride the giraffe with Ellie.

We had a nice picnic lunch with Kaden.

We visited the petting zoo and saw cows, pigs, chickens, etc., but everything was still "doggy."

We dragged Ellie's first birthday out for almost a week. There were presents, friends, family, cake, cake, and more cake. Who could ask for anything more?Doesn't everyone look like they're having fun?

4th of July came around again. It felt like we had just celebrated this holiday. It was Ellie's first year to be in the parade. She had fun "driving" her pink love bug.1st Fourth of July @ 10 days old We ended the parade at Mark and Claudia's house for a BBQ with friends and family complete with watermelon enjoyed by Ellie.