Camping

July brought a week off for Daddy and our annual 4th of July camping trip. DiDi came with us this year. She's never done that before and was quite the surprise. The girls loved having her with us. We camp right near the beach so the weather can be a bit chilly. It was absolutely freezing at night, but got a little warm during the day. We lucked out and the first day was really nice on the beach. The girls played until they were just too tired and hungry to go anymore. Then it was a late dinner, some s'mores and bed. Kite Flying Cheeto came with us and loved the beach. He, however, does NOT like camping. He is not an outside dog. He is definitely an indoor, couch sleeping, blanket burrowing dog. If we weren't at the beach, he was either hiding in a sleeping bag on an air mattress or curled up on the front seat of the van. He froze almost the entire time we were there. Leia is also not a camper. Each morning when she woke up in the tent, she was very unhappy, but having DiDi, Gramma and Papa around helped. The twins were up bright and early the first morning so they helped Papa make pancakes. Right after breakfast, we headed down to the beach. It was the lowest tide of the year so Gramma wanted to look for sand dollars and agates. The girls enjoyed checking out the tidepools. Leia found this sand dollar and told me that a seagull ate it. It definitely looked like something took a bite out of it. Mira was tired so she rode most of the way back in the wagon. After a quick lunch, we headed to the fish hatchery. The girls absolutely loved feeding the fish. Adia later told us that it was the best day ever, beach, then feeding fish, followed by ice cream and fireworks. I don't have many more pictures after that because my camera died. I've had it for 6 1/2 years so I've definitely gotten my money's worth, but it made me want to cry. It's been having problems after being dropped in the hand a few years ago, but now it will not focus at all. My camera's like an extension of me so it's been terrible missing so many great pictures and my camera on my cell phone just plain sucks. Mira fell asleep before the fireworks started. Leia fell asleep mid firework show. Adia made it to the end, but was asleep just seconds after being buckled into her seat. They slept hard. Mira woke up once around 4:30am because she had to pee, but after hiking to the bathroom, she went back to sleep until almost 8! They were tired. We had another Papa breakfast and then started packing up to leave. Leia was more than ready to go and Mira was ready too. Leia actually said, "I don't want to wake up in the tent" when she woke up that morning. We made another stop at the cheese factory before driving back to DiDi's house. Daddy and I left the girls with DiDi and drove back home. I went back the next morning, leaving Cheeto at home with Daddy, so the girls could spend some time with their out of town cousins. Adia instantly reconnected with Tanae even though I don't even remember the last time they saw each other. That evening we celebrated Tanae, Lexi and Micayla's birthdays. The girls were crazy, but they enjoyed more ice cream. Then we had to quickly drive home so I could finish baking cakes for the twins' birthday party the next day.