in which our family attempts to make memories

Alternately titled, we need our heads examined for considering doing all this again in a few weeks.

I'm a camping girl.  I'm not sure if David really knew that about me when we got married.  Perhaps it might have changed his mind, knowing that I'd drag him from his comfortable bed many a summer night, away from refrigerators, cell phone signals and at times, flushing toilets.  And then if he would have thought that I'd do all that while also hoisting along babies, I might still be single.  Lucky for me, Mormons typically have short engagements.  In the words of the wise Charlotte Lucas, "It is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life."  Happily for me, David indulges my harebrained ideas of good ol' fashioned family fun, which involves borrowing an SUV to pack enough equipment for a small expedition to the moon.

We backpacked around Europe for six weeks with only small, carry-on sized backpacks.  It's amazing how adding two tiny little people to the mix exponentially increased the gear needed for a weekend getaway to the coast.

It was... how shall I put it... interesting.  Camping with a baby is no problem.  Camping with a toddler who has an agenda and for some odd reason, a will of his own, was a bit problematic.  I blame most of it on [the lack of] sleep.  Josh went to bed late and woke up early due to all the light.  Nap time was difficult as well, since there was no way to contain him.  At home, I child lock the inside knob on his door so that he can't get out of his room.  With no way to get out, Josh either plays in his room or sleeps during his daily quiet time.  When camping, his daily schedule was totally thrown off whack which made him pretty cranky.

There were many moments that we didn't have fun.  A few time I was actually happy that no one we knew was camping with us because I was slightly less mortified by Josh's screaming tantrums echoing around the full campground.  As David put it, we didn't know any of them and we'd never see them again, so it didn't matter if they thought we were horrid parents.  We did discover that the SUV was an ideal time-out spot and it's pretty darn well insulated.  You could hardly hear the screaming once the doors were closed.

It wasn't all bad, but I'm looking forward to the day when we can reasonably expect to go out in public without temper tantrums and meltdowns.

The only camp spot left wasn't big enough to put our tent on the ground.  It made for a rather floppy tent, but on the plus side, the tent bottom wasn't all dirty and wet when we went to pack up.

I made David take a picture so that there was photographic evidence that I was indeed part of the trip.

If those three pictures didn't make you go "aaahhhhh" then you have a heart of stone.

Kickin' it in style.  Life is good.

I have to pat myself of the back for my camp cooking abilities this time.  We had gourmet s'mores (with crunch bars and peanut butter cups, no mere chocolate bars for this family) and tinfoil dinners.  Except these tinfoil dinners weren't your standard boy scout fare.  I sliced up red potatoes, carrots and kielbasa sausages, splashed on some mustard, lemon juice and other yummy things and 15 minutes after roasting in the fire, we had us some good eats.  I would have taken a picture, but Yorgesens eat too fast.

Josh is happy any place that has a large supply of rocks and sticks that can be fashioned into weapons.

Yeah, this face is much too familiar.

 Ben was bundled in so many layers and stuffed into a too-small suit that he literally couldn't lift his arms up any higher.  He was annoyed, but did stay all snuggly warm through the night.  And yes, that is Josh watching a movie on the itouch.  Trust me, all the neighboring campers were probably mentally shouting "Alleluia!" once we brought that sucker out.

"Hey, if Josh gets his toy, I get mine too."  I would like to be able to cut away from technology, but for the sake of family harmony, I let it go.

The following day we went up to Lincoln City for a little outlet mall shopping and fun on the beach.

I brought our own little green kite to partake in the big kite festival.  It was the first time Josh had seen kites and like most things you think your child will be really excited about, he could have cared less.

"This is my excited face, Mom."

Ben was happy about the kite, mainly for the new and exciting chewing opportunity it presented.

I swear 3/4 of my pictures are simply trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

And yet again, Grumpy Josh decides that we should leave the beach a lot sooner than I wanted to.

At least all that screaming lead to a nice, quiet ride back to the camp.  I didn't get a picture of it, but Ben kept stroking the top of Josh's head and playing with his hair.

And because I didn't get as much time on the beach as I wanted, nor did I get to fly my own stinkin' kite (repressed childhood feelings coming out, perhaps?) Ben and I took a solo sunset hike to the beach.

I got to fly my little kite.

And enjoy a beach all to myself.  I love the coast.