Bass Lake

 A few weeks ago now (at the beginning of August) we went camping at Bass Lake with Carey's family.  We went to Bass Lake a couple years ago, but stayed in a cabin because we weren't quite ready to tent camp yet with the kids still waking up a lot in the middle of the night!  This time we were ready for the tent and we had so much fun. 

When we first got there, I thought I was going to throw a screaming, two-year old type tantrum.  Carey and I were trying to get the tent set up (I forgot to bring directions), all three kids were wanting different things and going through our stuff that I had neatly packed, and was really hot and everyone wanted to go to the lake!  But, my wonderful mother in law took the kids to her site (or maybe to the lake, I can't even remember.  I just know she took them away!) and we were able to get things settled and a Mike's Hard Lemonade into my hand!

We had delicious food, lots of s'mores, and so much fun playing at the lake.  The first morning I took the kids and the dog down to the lake around 6:30 (hoping to not wake everyone in the campground) and it was so gorgeous and peaceful.  And there was something really cute to me about the kids playing around the lake in their pjs! 

The little cove of the lake where we set up our "beach camp" had a big rock on the other side of it, which the kids loved swimming over to and jumping off!  They sure are adventurous.  I did it a couple times, but I was much happier staying in the water and catching them as they jumped!

On Sunday, my awesome and generous father in law rented a party boat and we all loaded up on that for the day!  That was one of the most fun days of our lives.  The kids loved being on the boat, as well as jumping off the boat!  We all got to go tubing, which was a big hit.  I went with Haley and she just giggled and giggled the whole time.  It is a really special memory I have with my sweet girl:)  Abby wasn't so sure.  She really liked floating on it, but wasn't a fan of the boat moving and pulling the tube!  Seth loved it and even went on it with his cousin, Max (which, if you know Seth, you know it's a big deal for him to do something like that with someone that's not mom or dad).  The boat had a barbeque on it, so we pulled over into a cove for lunch and had yummy burgers and hot dogs, and did our best to keep them away from Banjo!

Oh, another highlight was in the evenings, when we were all sitting around chatting and eating dinner, Haley, Abby and Seth decided to put on some "shows"!  They did "the ugly duckling", "little red riding hood", "the three little pigs", and "Goldilocks and the three bears"!  Quite amusing versions they performed!

Snacks at the beach

enjoying the sunshine

Haley used towels to make this "couch" for us

Loving the lake life!

ready for s'mores

hanging out with Max, Uncle Rick and Aunt Kelly

Look at that s'more!

Ready for the boat with the wristbands to prove it!

Haley and Grandma Jackie

The kids were so happy that Banjo went in the water.

Seth and Max

Abby and Grandma Jackie

Grandpa Steve let all the kids (including Carey) have a turn driving the boat (Carey didn't have to sit on Steve's lap, though!)

 a little "down time" around the campsite

Fun At Lake Del Valle

This past week the kids and I joined our neighbors on a camping trip at Lake Del Valle in Livermore (not a long car ride at all).  We were supposed to go up on Monday afternoon and meet them.  We left here at 1:30 for the hour and a half car trip, and made it to Los Gatos at 3:00!  I figured at that point that we would be in traffic the whole way to Lake Del Valle, so we turned around and came home (with surprising little tantruming).  The car was all packed and ready, so we left on Tuesday morning instead and made it up there nice and quick, giving us all day Tuesday and Wednesday to be there.  The lake was really fun, complete with lifeguards and shady trees.  The campground had a big grassy field in the middle that was perfect for flying kites, blowing bubbles, playing ball, and, at night, catching frogs!  Our campsite was on a big loop, so the kids could ride their bikes all the way around and we could see them pretty much all the way around.  They did a ton of bike riding!  They also did a ton of bottle cap collecting!  The kids were on a mission to find at many different ones as possible.

I just have to publicly say that my neighbors are THE BEST!  I got to the camp and Mike and Michael set up my tent.  Sarah had all the food taken care of.  I really didn't do anything.  They are so awesome.  Thanks so much, guys!

Carey came up to visit us on Tuesday night:)

The kids loved climbing this tree and dropping acorns down into a bucket!

Michael helping Abby fish for her first time!

First time fishing for Haley, too!

Seth didn't fish for more than three minutes!

Mike took all the kiddos out on his kayak!

Bottle-cap collecting!

Michael and Mike fixing Abby's flat tire.

Our First BIG Trip (part 5- the last one!)

Day 8- Going Home

On our last morning, we woke up to more beautiful sunshine and went down to the beach to find that it was covered in gorgeous shells!  Haley told me "Mom, God did something nice for us and put shells all over the place for our last day here".  He sure did.  We had so much fun collecting tons of shells (I decided that from now until we run out of shells, they will be the present for every birthday party the girls are invited to) and boogie boarding and floating in the water.  The beach had a sandbar about 50 yards out and in between the beach and the sandbar the water was like a lake.  It was up to the kids shoulders, but they were fine to play in it because there were no waves.  We did a lot of floating in there!

Abby is holding a HUGE clam that Laura found (still alive)!

Haley and Laura found all these crab shells:)

There was a hose and shower head just off the boardwalk to rinse off the sand before going back in the condo complex.

Haley's shell collection!

Our trip home was fairly uneventful. On our long flight, from Atlanta to San Fransisco, we had been assigned 6 seats scattered all over the plan, which Delta, on the phone, assured me that they would fix once we were at the airport.  Unfortunately, that wasn't true, so getting on that plane was a little stressful.  We were rushing onto the plane anyway, because our connecting flight was slightly late and landed in a different part of the airport.  But, people very kindly traded with us and we managed to end up in 3 groups of one adult, one child!  The only other snafu with our trip home is that our checked suitcase didn't make the connecting flight, so they had to deliver it to us the next day.  Thankfully, the three boosters did make it to SFO with us, so it really wasn't so bad!

We had the most incredible trip.  It was definitely different than our expectations, but we had a blast and loved being on a beach on the other side of the country.  Oh, one other funny little thing you might want to know is that Haley kept saying things like "What time is it here?  And what time is it in our world?" or "Hey, we have that store in our world"!  So cute!

Our First BIG Trip (part 4)

Day 6- Laura's 30th Birthday

On Thursday we woke up to a glorious morning!  It was sunny and beautiful outside.  It was Laura's birthday present from the Lord.  We were definitely SO thankful for a warm, sunny beach day, which was what we had been expecting the whole trip would be like!  We spent all morning and afternoon on the beach and it was AWESOME!  We all did some boogie boarding, and Abby became the queen of the sport!  Oh, and the Webber children got their first sunburns!  Abby pretty much thought she was going to die!  She was so dramatic about it.  Seth looked like a raccoon because he kept rubbing his eyes and it rubbed all the sunscreen off!  And I realized that when I re-applied the sunscreen after a couple hours at the beach I think all the sand that I rubbed around with it ended up scrubbing it off.  That east coast sand is so fine and it just doesn't rub off!  I can assure you that they all survived the sunburns!

That night for dinner we went to the best restaurant EVER!  It's called Saltwater Cowboys and it is like a southern dream.  It's on a marsh and it looks like you stepped into the bayou!  There was a stuffed raccoon holding a fishing pole right as we walked in, and all the chairs and tables looked like they were made of random branches someone found on the ground.  We sat out on the deck and had yummy fresh shrimp, sweat tea and fried gator tail!  Our waiter was a darling southern boy and Abby really liked him.  At one point during dinner Abby said (as she was looking straight at our waiter) "Mom, I miss Pete.  Pete the Pirate.  Our dog who's at home in California."  I asked her if she was talking to me or the waiter and she said "Okay, I'll tell the secret.  I like when people pay attention to me."  Not such a secret Abby!  We all burst out laughing!  

A little tired after a long day at the beach!

Day 7- Our Last Full Day

On our last full day in Florida we spent our time at the beach and the pool.  We had another wonderful morning on the beach and this time went back to the condo for a little break from the sun and for lunch.  We visited our turtle friend (there were some gopher tortoises that lived in the dunes) and collected lots of fun shells.  In the late afternoon we went to Fort Matanzas, which is a fort that was built to protect St. Augustine against someone...I forgot who it was and when it was built.  It was super hot and I was not feeling very well!  Anyway, we rode a little ferry boat out to it and explored a bit.  It was the kids' first time on a boat.  As we left the fort, my cold was getting the better of me (I had been fighting a cold the whole time, but trying to be in denial of it), so we went back to the condo and Laura and Carey took the kids to the pool and I rested in quiet!  Not really the way I was hoping to spend our last night there, but at least I could hear everyone having fun down at the pool:)

Outside the fort!

Seth was really into the cannons and wanted to play pirate the whole time we were at the fort!

On our very hot ferry ride!

Our First BIG Trip (part 3)

Day 4- We Hit "The Wall"

On Tuesday of our trip, we woke up to Tropical Storm Debbie still in full force.  I think it was the night before that the storm was so loud it kept waking me up.  I have never heard wind that loud in my entire life.  I have no idea how it didn't rip the roof off the building!  Anyway, Laura and I decided to take the kids to the beach and fly kites.  It was not our best idea!  It was WAY too windy to fly kites and the kids were crabby and not listening well.  We went back to the condo and we all kind of "hit the wall".  The trip had been so stormy and everyone was disappointed but had been trying to make the best of it.  I was D-O-N-E with the girls being rude and disobedient and Seth's whining (plus I was super tired).  All I remember is going to lay down and try and nap (I suck at napping) and getting up a bit later to all three kids sleeping/resting, Laura gone on a walk (on which she saw a fox sitting in the dunes) and Carey enjoying the condo's cable tv!  

After our early afternoon, mid-trip meltdown, we were all feeling better and decided to head to "old town".  I can't remember if I've already said this, but St. Augustine is the oldest founded city in America, so there's lots of history and (more importantly to us) cute/neat old buildings!  We saw the nation's oldest wooden schoolhouse, went to an old fashioned candy shop (I feel like I should spell it "shoppe"!), found more lizards, and saw a Mary Poppins-ish street performer!  While we were there, the weather was alternating between really hot and pouring down rain, with the consistent windyness, of course!  At one point, it was pouring down rain, there was still some things the adults wanted to see, Abby was screaming crying about buying a horse necklace, and we didn't know which way to go.  I noticed we were standing right next to the church of St. Augustine (the saint the city was named after).  The sign on the door said people were welcome to go in but to be respectful of people who might be praying in there.  I told the kids to be quiet and we went on in, expecting to run out in two seconds because the kids would yell or something.  It was like a magical building.  It was huge and beautiful and so different than any church building my kids have been in, there were so quiet and in awe.  They loved hearing about what the different parts were (sidenote: Abby had asked me about the two doors that led to the confessional, so I told her about it.  Once we were home, she was telling my sister, Auntie Melissa, about the church and she told her "And they had these doors you go in and there is a man who goes in the other one and you say like 'I disobeyed my mom' or something like that.  But we don't have that at our church").  We were in there for a good 15 minutes or so, just enjoying the beauty of it.  And, when we walked out, the rain had stopped and it was sunny!

The street performer...who proceeded to make it half-way through a song and then break 2 strings at the same time!

Loving the entertainment!

The oldest wooden school house:)

Inside the gorgeous, tear-stopping, quiet inducing, rain-stopping St. Augustine church!

Day 5- An End In Sight

On Wednesday, good old Debbie seemed to be on her way out and the beach days we were expecting were seeming more like a reality!  We tried the kites once again, this time with more success!  Well, Carey had success; Laura, not so much, although it was hilarious to watch her kite!  We did some playing on the beach and in the pool and were so happy to see the sun out by the end of the day:)

Ready to go fly some kites!

These three kids are ready for the sun!