Happy 4th!

Our friends from across the street, invited us to go camping on their family's property for the holiday weekend. The lot which is called Palm Point is about 10 minutes from the coast and overlooks the Chetco river. I have to say that it was for sure the coldest 4th of July I have experienced but all the fun we had made the cold ok! We went from 100 degree weather at our house, drove less than 2 hours and became immersed in clouds, fog, and cold air with highs in the low 50's! Besides ward campouts, this is the first time we have been camping in a long time. Justin's residency didn't allow us too much time for the tent life. I forgot how much stuff camping requires! It was a good thing we were with a group who loaned us stuff or we would have been scraping our eggs and bacon out of the pan with a stick and eating dry hoagies with no mayo. Packing for camping is like packing a subsidized version of your house!

Smores for breakfast? Sure, why not! And checkout her bare piggies. All of the adults never took their jackets off and the kids were running around in as little as their mom's would allow!

La-La was fascinated with the fire. Everytime you turned around she was trying to add another log or put newspaper in it. She was scaring me with how comfortable she was with the flames!

Everyone else in the camp was awake and not quiet at all yet somehow Jaco kept snoozing and snoozing.


Saturday after lunch we went to the beach. It was windy and chilly but we still had fun! The beach we went to had rocks everywhere so we spent most of our time exploring them. We found a ton of crabs and discovered several 6 armed star fish. We saw a dead baby seal which was sad but it had the most beautiful fur! La-La wore flip flops but they didn't slow her down at all. She scaled rocks as well as the rest of us!


Care Bear climbing around on the rocks!


What a beauty! La-La's hair was so curly with all the moisture in the air! It is also getting quite red from all the sun.


Jaco was trying to not smile but I got a little one out of him.


Late night, early morning, and an afternoon of exploration equals one tired little girl. She fell asleep with a piece of candy clutched in her hand which Jaco stole away. :-)


Before heading out to watch all the fireworks, we had a huge barbecued feast that included oysters like you see in this picture. Danielle's (our friend and neighbor) dad is the king of cooking over a fire! Justin was in heaven with crab legs, oysters, mussels, steak, salmon, chicken and all kinds of salads, corn, bread and watermelon. I am not a sea food fan so my poor hubby never gets it at home. The kids don't mind shrimp and other sea food and Justin usually convinces them to try new things. I am the one that he has lost hope for. I just couldn't bring myself to put a slimy clam in my mouth especially after La-La said they tasted like sea water.


Jaco was nervous to try the sparklers but with a little coaxing he did it and discovered how amazing they are!


Last year Care Bear hid behind her binky when we lit off fireworks but this year she decided they aren't so bad afterall. It took a little encouragement for her to hold a sparkler but she loved them too! La-La would have lit the fireworks if we had of let her!


We went to the harbor to watch the big fireworks and light off the legal and a couple illegal ones. There was so much smoke in the air mixed with the usual harbor fog that we weren't able to see all the big ones. But it was pretty cool to watch the whole sky change colors behind the smoke and fog. Our poor dog Cody was so scared from all the booms and bangs. Even before it got dark, he heard the loud booms from far away and started shaking uncontrollably. He was panting like it was 100 degrees and his poor heart was just pounding. After about 4 hours of non-stop shaking someone in the camp offered us a doggy version of valium to give him. We felt so bad for him but the medicine did seem to help; at least it made him sleepy enough that he finally relaxed a little. I think we will be talking to the vet and getting our own supply of medicine before the next 4th!