Derek had vacation this week so we ended up taking the kids camping in Fort Bragg! It was soo much fun! I hadn't been camping in years and I forgot how it felt to sit around a campfire, sleep in a tent and relax out in the wild... It was overcast almost the whole time so all my pictures turned out a little gray.
Derek did most of the work including the cooking. I have to admit I was very skeptical about taking the kids camping, but he was really good at doing so much and letting me focus on taking care of them and keeping them occupied.
Keeping Peyton out in nature for three days wasn't easy. I don't know how many times she told me she wanted to watch cartoons. It seemed to be the worst at night when it started to get dark she would say she was ready to go home.
Before we got to the campsite all she could talk about was having a campfire and telling "spooky stories"! The night we actually had our first campfire I asked her if she wanted me to tell her a spooky story and she said, "no, I want a silly story.." She chickened out on the scary ones...
Jax did soo well the whole trip, minus the melt down he had the first hour we spent driving there. He was tired and just wouldn't fall asleep. He screamed and screamed until we finally stopped to have lunch and when Derek took him out of his car seat he found a small toy ball that Jax had been sitting on the whole time which is probably why he was whining in the first place... oops!
Peyton is usually all about being clean. She hates getting dirty, but for some reason I could not keep her out of the dirt. At first I kept telling her to stay out of it, but then I realized that we were camping and it wasn't really fair to take her out there and expect her to stay clean. So I just let her be a kid and go crazy with the dirt... Every time I tell Peyton to be careful these days or not to do something her response isn't "OK" like it used to be. Now it's, "Don't worry!" She's a smart little girl because it's her way of not promising anything.
This tree was in our campsite and it was funny because when I first saw it I was reminded of all the times my siblings and I would climb trees in our backyard when we were little. My brother actually fell out of one of our trees and broke both of his arms once. My first thought was, 'that would be a good climbing tree'... Not that I would just start pulling myself to the top of it and Peyton's still too little, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. The first day we were there some kids from the campsite next to us came over and asked if they could climb it. Peyton just watched them for a while and kept asking me if she could go play with them.
Finally when I was finished with whatever it was that I was doing at the time I took her over and gave her a few pointers on how to climb a tree. She didn't get too high up, but she kept telling me, "wow, mama! I'm almost all the way to the top!" It's weird how things must seem soo big to her. It's like when you go back to a place you used to play at when you were little and it's always soo much smaller than you remember...
Peyton started laying out firewood and told me she was making train tracks so I brought out Jax's toy train that we brought with us and she was soo excited. It's fun playing with her and seeing what her imagination can do.
This was my attempt to be creative with my new camera... I thought this picture turned out pretty cool!
We were all excited about roasting marshmallows! Jax wasn't a huge fan, but he ate the gram crackers! Peyton was scared to eat her smore because it was going to be too sticky, but once she tasted it she didn't care... Derek was focused on roasting the "perfect marshmallow" that was golden brown. He was pretty good at it! Mine lit on fire and it took me a while to put the fire out so I ended up having to start over because it was completely burnt.
I wanted to get soo many cute pictures, but the kids were not having it. I honestly had to bribe Peyton to smile in over half of the pictures in this post. Jax is just in his own little world 24/7 so to get his attention for more than 2 seconds isn't possible.
We took the kids to Folsom Lake a while back and Derek showed Peyton how to throw rocks into the water so when we told her we were going to the beach she was soo excited to throw rocks!
Peyton called the campground bathrooms the "potty house". One time she went to the "potty house" with me to wash Jax off after snack time. We were standing at the sink when a Lady with short straight hair and no make up on came out of one of the stalls and started washing her hands. Peyton hid behind me and started saying, "I'm afraid of the boy, mama!" she said it about three times. I automatically knew what she was talking about, but trying to make things not so awkward I asked her, "you're afraid of brother?" Then she said, "No, I'm afraid of the boy.. I'm afraid of the girl... I'm afraid of the boy." She was soo confused and I am not the type of person to think of something right off the bat to make the situation better. This woman was obviously a woman, but Peyton didn't know what to think and I just kept washing Jax and acted like I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. I mean really what could I have said? "Peyton, that's a girl"? I think anything I would have ended up saying would have made the situation more uncomfortable so I quickly finished and left. Later I explained to Peyton that girls can have short hair too. I still feel like I should have said something..
I love her so much! She has brought a smile to my face every day for the past 3 years almost! Yep, she will be 3 next month! Crazy!
Jax loved rolling around in the sand with Daddy when he wasn't trying to eat it! He's getting to be quite the little fighter these days and he can definitely hold his own!
We had fun running from the waves. At one point we kinda hiked down this steep hill to our own private little beach. It was soo worth it!
There's something very amazing about standing on a beach watching the waves come in. It's beautiful!
I think I was more excited about the little animals that we saw then anyone. It was kinda scary how brave they were though. I think they're used to people feeding them so they aren't afraid and will come right up to you. I didn't take a picture of it, but we took the kids to Mendocino and had lunch on the patio of this little cafe. A bird came up and ate a cheezit that had fallen on the ground and Peyton thought it was the coolest thing so we threw another one down close to Jax and a bird picked it up and flew away. I think Jax was a little upset that the bird took his cheezit!
This was my favorite picture from the whole trip! I love it!!! I'm soo proud of our little family! I'm proud of how well Peyton has adjusted the past year and how much she's learned, I'm proud of Jax for all of his milestones, I'm proud of Derek for being such a great Dad and for all that he does to make my life easier and I'm proud of myself for everything I never thought I could accomplish so early in life...
