Camping With Friends at Malibu Creek

Our last camping trip of the summer, we went with three other families to Malibu Creek.

The Hickey's
Sean, Lisa, Tristan & Nathan



The Minett's
Perry, Linda, Blake & Lindsey
...Kona, the pup, belongs to the Fournier's


The Montemayor's
Jim, Jennifer & Frances

The Fournier's
Doug, Ruth, Lowden & Kendyl


We had a great time hanging out together. We played "spotlight on" around the camp fire the first night. We all told a few things about ourselves, like what our favorite color is, age, what we like most about ourselves and our most embarrassing moment. It was pretty hilarious and I think we learned a few things about each other.


It was nice to hang out with the kids and also let them hang out with eachother.

The first day, we went for a long hike. To where, we weren't really sure at first, but then we got word of a swimming hole with a rope swing.

So we hiked........

and hiked.........

and stopped and took pictures.....

and hiked some more.....

and hiked even more.......

and we finally got to our destination.

After we assessed the situation........

........boy did we have a good time!

Even the Dad's couldn't resist the rope swing.

After all the fun, we hiked on out of there. I think we all agreed that it was well worth the hike in.

The next day, we hung out on the beach. It was a beautiful day. The dolphins were out playing and the kids had a great time playing in the waves......despite all the shark stories.....Perry......Doug!

The Hickey's voted Blake Minett "Camper of the Week." He had the best "most embarrassing moment" around the camp fire the first night. He had us all rolling till our tummies hurt.

I think next year we decided on river rafting, right? Who's in?

Love, Lisa

p.s. Special thanks to Linda Minett for taking some of these pictures. ; )

Camping in San Simeon

We had a great time camping in San Simeon with Sean's sister, Rhonda and her grandson, Cole. It just wasn't long enough!

The boys just can't get enough of eachother when they are together, but Cole wasn't feeling 100%, so we basically just chilled out at the campsite, which was totally okay by me, because I could barely pull myself away from the last Harry Potter book. The boys and Hubby were calling me Hermoine. Seriously, in all honesty, it's just nice to spend time together, regardless of where we are or what we're doing.







We did take a little drive up the coast to see the elephant seals. Along the way we saw Hearst Castle perched up on the beautiful mountain top. I've never been up there, but can you imagine the view this place must have? I was amazed to see Zebras in the pasture hanging out with the cows, and being the Africa freak that I am, I was half way hoping to see some giraffe too!


The elephant seals were amazing! This time of year, it's just the males that are on the beach and they are molting! The sounds that come from these creatures had the boys giggling...."is that coming from their nose or their butts?" Hilarious! The big one in the pic below, looked like he was the biggest/oldest one on the beach. He seriously looked like a little old man. He never moved from this spot, while all the others around him did their mock fighting.






As I watched them coming up from the ocean, I was amazed out how long it took them to get up onto the beach. They would do the worm alittle bit and let the waves bring them in, and then they would collapse and rest, and then a few minutes later, the worm alittle bit more and then collapse to rest. It was something. Even to do the mock fighting, you could tell, took a ton of energy because they're just not that agile on land.




We definitely had a great time hanging out with Aunt Rhonda and cousin Cole. We love you guys and we can't wait to do it again!


Love, Lisa