Camping at Big Sur

I didn't grow up camping too often as a kid, but I have always loved it. It is not always a relaxing vacation (especially with two young kids), but we always have so much fun every time we go. It's nice to not be connected to the Internet, phone or ipad. It's nice to go to sleep early listening to crickets, the river, camp fires crackling and the occasional owl if you are lucky. Those clear nights when you can see a billion stars in the sky makes all the work worth it. The kids love it as well. Playing, eating and sleeping outside, while no one cares if they get dirty = HEAVEN for kids!
Now let me explain that we are not hard core campers. I will not dig a hole to do my "business." I like a clean bathroom with running WARM water, and we sleep on air mattresses, not on the ground. In fact we just bought a tent this summer that is HUGE and very comfortable for all of us. There are two bedrooms. One room we use for our bags, leave our shoes, and hang towels. The other room fit our queen size mattress, a twin size mattress for Owen AND the pack and play for Emily and we still had plenty of room to move around in. Not to mention lots of head room for us as well.

Since we had never set up this estate of a tent before, Adam was standing there looking at the instructions wondering where to begin. I was handling the kids when thankfully a nice man (who reminded me of Pop Pop (Adam's Dad)), came over and said he had the same tent and showed us how to do it quickly. Nice way to start our day!

We put Emily in the pack and play and started unloading the car and getting camp kitchen set up for dinner! (We didn't get there till after4 PM)

Once things were organized, it was time for a beer!

And corn on the cob!

The first night was a little rough as the kids were adjusting to their new environment. Emily slept in our bed tossing and turning and Owen slept alright once he finally settled down from all the excitement of sleeping in a tent ; ) They both rolled out of their beds at some point and I put them both back without opening an eye.

Once the morning came, we all felt a little more settled and were ready to begin our day at Big Sur. After breakfast we drove a few miles to a 2 mile hike (round trip) to Andrew Molera beach. The hike was flat and beautiful. There was a lot of poison oak, but we managed to avoid it all. Emily slept for most of the walk in the Ergo Carrier. The waves were huge, the views were incredible and we got to see some amazing surfers, a seal swimming in the waves, as well as some fishermen bring in lots of perch while we were there. Adam and I relaxed below this man-made wind shelter of drift wood, while we watched Owen play in the sand and bother the fishermen ; )We came back to camp for lunch and a dip in the Big Sur River that was next our camp site. It was a pretty slow lazy river and we put Owen in his own inter tube and sent him down by himself. He wouldn't have had it any other way. He did great and went down 5 times that first afternoon!Adam and I took turns on the shore with Emily, while the other one went down the river with Owen : ) FUN!

She loved watching her Daddy and Owen float past her in the water. Emily is a big water baby as well and dipped her feet in the river a few times for fun.Meanwhile, back in the tent, the kids were happy as could be in there. It's like a big play house for them! Owen's new camera face. This is his "Blue Steel" look.Peekaboo!

S'MORES!
Can he seriously be any happier?The next day we decided to go to Pfeiffer Beach. Beautiful. It was freezing and VERY windy, but just beautiful and we had a lot of fun once we found wind shelter behind a huge rock.Owen trying to rock climb.Despite the cold and the wind, our little wild man Owen insisted on stripping down and running around the beach. Thankfully he listened to us and didn't get in the water.He then found a huge hole someone had dug. He promptly put himself in it completely naked and buried himself as much as he could. Adam finished the job! After the beach it was time for lunch. We got some amazing burritos just up the road. Then we walked down to the Big Sur Inn and sat in some Adirondack chairs that were sitting in the shallow river. Refreshing and relaxing.Tippy toes trying to look over the top of the chair watching inter tubers float by. She waved at all of them and said "Hi ya."One last stop before we get back to the camp ground. Ice Cream out of a painted hippy bus that doesn't run. I thought it was super cute from the outside, though, not too impressed from the inside.. Oh well, you win some and you loose some.

Awe, reading books with Dad in the tent for some much needed down time after our time at the beach."I am going to eat one and roast one"Emily LOVES to stand on chairs. She just started walking the day after her birthday.And, this is how I made it through at the end of each day : ) I am a sucker for good wine labels and I couldn't pass this one up while on our trip. "Happy Camper Wine." It was actually good too!Our last night we were lucky enough to have gotten new camping neighbors. They were from LA area and had two girls, ages 5 and 2. So cute! Their names were Alyssa and Anna. Owen and Alyssa (5) made friends fast! They knew the same songs, read the same books and both had animal hats : ) Hers was a lion and Owen had a bear (thanks to his Aunt Becca : )Getting cozy in the tent reading books together.We all slept soundly that night. In the morning, we packed up after breakfast and said our goodbyes to our new friends, and headed home down Highway 1. We stopped in Cambria for lunch and then got out at San Simeon to see the elephant seals sunning themselves.
By the time we got home, Nana had made a wonderful dinner with home made bread that was waiting for us when we walked in the door. We threw the kids in the bath, put them to bed and shared and laughed about all our stories from our trip. Home sweet home.