We had a really wonderful camping trip. We headed out friday afternoon after i'd packed us all up. The drive to Santa Cruz was a bit slow going thanks to friday rush hour and some road construction but once we made it it was fun to just relax and just hang out with good people.

We set up our tiny tent we got as a gift 15 years ago. Its seen us through Camping in Florida, VIctoria, Tasmania, South Australia and even Ayers Rock. Compared to all the other tents, ours was a toy, we all enjoyed laughing about it. The family that set up next to us had the exact opposite - 2 rooms complete with carry case on wheels! In the end though our poor little tent didn't survive age, and a troop of 4 year olds running in and out, and 2 blow up mattresses that were about 1/2 foot too wide
(we propped one over the other and Megan rolled into me all night) and so we will be shopping for a new one before our next camping trip.

I made dinner while we all got to know each other and the kids played. Cooking on a camp stove was more rewarding than I thought it would be and my CRV's table came in handy giving us a surface to use as kitchen.

After convincing Megan that all the other kids were in fact going to bed, Jack got her down, while I enjoyed some time with the other folks around the campfire. We stayed up way to late and I was a tad hung over in the morning, but it was so much fun. Jack got breakfast on and then we all just sat around talking while the kids played. After lunch we Jack and I broke camp and then the whole group headed down to the beach. It was a beautiful day -Jack managed to get a kite into the air, Megan got soaked in the surf and covered in sand and I just soaked up the sun and the good company. After a couple of hours we headed back up to our car, gave Megan a quick shower to rinse off the sand and headed home.