It was, however, the most beautiful drive. The coastline from Crescent City to Mendocino is amazing.
We were greeted at the campsite by the Connelly family (Carmen, Michael, Nadia (4yrs) and Aidan (2 yrs). They reserved a beautiful campsite for us, back high in the redwoods.
The Sula - Goff family (Evan, Erin and Emilie - soon to be 1 yr) made the long trip and got there on Thursday.
We spent time at the beach just down the road from the campsite looking for "treasure," what Nadia called shells and rocks. Now Jakob calls his rock that Nadia gave him his "treasure" and makes sure it's safe on his shelf every time he goes into his bedroom - he will be bringing it to sharing at school this week.
The kids all got a kick out of Emilie - Jakob especially - he even wanted to see her nurse! He helped feed her and tried to teach her his high 5 game. He was constantly saying how "cute" she was - sooooo sweet. He definetly has some kind of crush on Nadia though, he had to make sure he gave her a kiss goodbye. On our drive home we stopped at the dreaded McDonalds (for those that are as grossed out by McDonalds as we are - it's Jakob's 2nd trip - only on long road trips do we stop there) hoping there would be somewhere for Jakob to play - there wasn't, but a little girl in there gave him her little purple teddy bear from the happy meal - that wears a dress - that he now calls Nadia and sleeps with!
Anyhow, we had a nice time with everyone. It was so great to see our close friends and have all day to just talk and hang out without having to be pulled in so many directions or have any plans at all. Mark, Michael and Evan got to have some "Man Time" and went kayaking together.
Oh and yes I had my worst parenting moment ever, I think. Jakob was pooping on the flush toilets at the campsite when he decided to turn around to look at his poop coming out of his buns - lovely I know - and he lost his balance and fell into the toilet. I have told him before not to turn around while on the potty so he knew full well what not to do - and guess what happened - hands right into the poop and pee and in a public toilet! I LOST IT! I picked him up, quickly flung him off the toilet w/a slam of his feet on the floor and a few choice words like "God Damn IT". I tried to drag him back to camp to wash him off with sanitizer but he refused to hold my hand or rather be dragged across the street - which then fired me up even more! So, I totally traumatized him in front of everyone at the campsite, stripped him of his 2 1/2 year old dignity while yelling at him about all the germs he just touched and how he is to always hold my hand. The other kids watched in horror as one of their comrades was going down and they had no idea why! Yes a shining parenting moment for me!!!!
Oh - later that day Jakob slipped on his hands on the floor of a porta potty - the germ exposure continues - this time my temper was a bit more controlled! But, I'll tell you that Jakob did learn his lesson because since then when he is on the potty, he says "I didn't turn around Mommy." I definetly made an impression - good or bad I don't know!
Our camping trip was fun, most of you know I'm not much of a camper, I don't enjoy the campfire smoke, nor laying on the ground, but the quality time with friends was great. We had lots of late night fun around the campfire - of course, sadly, I was the only sober one - I've got some great pics that I can blackmail people for later - Michael!!!!!
Oh, and on our way back home we stopped by my cousin Monica and Christopher's new house in Fort Bragg - they have a beautiful one-acre lot and are very blessed to live where they do! They gave us some fresh albacore to take home, which we seared last night and it was so good!
Enjoy our pictures - I have added our one belly picture we've got - it's kind of abstract since Mark took it thru the campfire.
4 comments:
Sounds like a blast! We haven;t been camping with Gracie yet and are dying too! It would be so fun to meet and go with you guys sometime - we are going to be surrounded by forest or are always up for the beach! Your belly looks great by the way :) Love you guys!
Oh Jess, I can just see the whole toilet incident..... ughghhgh.
Glad you all got to be together in the woods and the beach. We went camping last weekend and it rained ALL night. Joe woke up in a puddle under his sleeping pad. Not cool. Good ole pac.north west....
Wendy
Oh my god, Michael has forearms. Weird.
These pics are so cute! I swear, you young hip families are so freakin cute! I wish I had the desire to camp and bear children so that I could have joined in the fun. It's like, I want to have fun with you guys b/c I know there must have been lots of Mark giggles during the trip - but could I have dealt with a portable toilet and no shower? ha ha...
(BTW, this is a warning: from here forward (or at least until the first year of school is done) I will not be writing coherently. I will be rambling and half-crazy. But know that mired in my confusing sentences and random observations is the sentiment that 1) I miss you - and the other folks commenting on this blog and 2) I love you and hope to see you soon. xoxoxoxoxoxo
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