New Brighton Camping Trip - what a blast

We just got back from our 1st annual camping trip w/ some friends:

Day 1 Camping Trip

Setting up camp:

I was so excited to be camping (since this was the first time Scott & I had ever been together) that I stole the rake from Scott, so I could prep the spot for our tent.

Will playing in the tent - the setup was super comfy (notice Will's sleeper in the background - He did such a great job sleeping our first night of camping. He went down without any problems & woke up in the morning with his face pressed against the mesh while smiling at & talking to Scott & me):

My mom gave Will a skull & crossbones tat the night before (we call it his mini tramp stamp):

Snuggled up with daddy:

Josh entertaining Jaxon & Carson:

Tiffani planned the entire trip (reservations, food, activities). She did such an amazing job, as she always does at everything. The first night, we had Costa Vida salads - Ben & Scott were on dish duty:

S'mores anyone?

Tiffani:

Josh:

Reiko eating her very first S'more:

Leslie, Hilary, & me (w/ Will, of course):

This was the little pyro - Curtis loved burning anything & everything - he finally confessed to his dad that he would rather be a firefighter (like Scott) than a cop (like his dad, Ben) - low blow Curtis ;) Actually, Scott put Curtis up to telling his dad that - as of now, he is still undecided on career:

The gals: Hilary, Tiffani, Leslie, me, Reiko, Catharine:

Day 2 of camping

For breakfast, Tiffani planned banana chocolate chip pancakes. They were absolutely amazing. Scott took over making the pancakes at the end to give Tiffani a break. You know when you hand pancake batter over to a couple of guys (Scott & Ben), things like this are bound to happen: 2 HUGE pancakes w/ chocolate chip nipples: "breast"fast anyone?

Andrew eating the massive cakes:

Will & Caylee getting to know each other:

Tiffani & Carson:

Catharine & Jaxon:

Brian w/ Caden & Josh w/ Jaxon:

For our second day camping, half the group decided to go to Roaring Camp for a train ride while the rest of us stayed at camp to let the kids nap

Andrew, Tiffani & Carson on the train - Carson loved the train whistle:

Hilary, Brennan, Brian & Caden:

Ben & Sara - she's such a cutie:

Ben & Leslie w/ Curtis, Ethan, & Sara:

We met up with everyone at a really good pizza place in Santa Cruz called Pizza My Heart. While enjoying our food, Josh had the privilege of having a random guy off the street come up to him & start talking about cilantro (he happened to have a little bunch of it in his hands at the moment - the guy was obviously crazy, but we had three CHP officers on hand, so I felt pretty safe ;)

After lunch, a bunch of us went to Marianne's for ice cream. My favorite ice cream (out of the two that I tried) was the Horchata - William seemed to enjoy it too:

Reiko & Brad w/ Caylee:

After ice cream, we headed over to the Boardwalk. I love spraying suntan lotion in Will's hair b/c it makes for the best wispy Mohawk:

Josh, Catharine, & Jaxon:

I love the ocean - it's so calming & beautiful (minus the sand, I'm not a huge fan of it - it runs along the same line as chalk, flour, & velvet for me - none of which I care for too much - icky)

On the dragon ride:

Will's first time on a bigger-kid-ish ride (minus Disneyland) - when the ride started, it spun faster than I expected, causing William to slide into me & practically end up lying down on his side. He was so little sitting next to me. It probably would have been better just to hold him in my lap:

As many know, Will LOVES the water. He could care less about the ride, he just wanted to play in the water that was on the outside of the ride:

Brad was one of Scott's best men at our wedding - they're great friends, & I'm so glad that we had the chance to meet up with him & his family for this trip:

Reiko & Brennan - he was always stuffing his mouth so full of food. Poor kid couldn't even chew the hot dog, & Leslie had to pull some of it out, so he wouldn't choke:

Hanging out after eating dinner (75 cent hot dogs). Usually I would love hot dogs, but these definitely didn't settle well with me. On the drive home last night, I got car sick & got to have seconds on dinner in a gas station parking lot - not the best feeling when it comes out the nose (is that too graphic?):

Carson "making friends" with some random girl on a ride - I assume that Tiffani was trying to get his attention, & the girl in front just decided to make Carson look at the camera while posing for the picture herself . . . awesome:

Curtis & Ethan enjoying the rides - I love how psyched Curtis looks:

The end of the day & our 1st annual camping trip with our 9th ward group of friends (even though only one of the couples actually still lives in that ward):

It was a blast guys, & I'm already so excited for next year!