More Firsts

This week the girls took their first boat ride and Ella rode in the tube for the first time. This weekend we decided to have a go at another first for the girls-- backyard camping. We yearn to take advantage of all our amazing California camping destinations, but I just can't get past my fears about camping with kids. Will they be wild around the fire? Will they sleep at all? Will everyone wake up grumpy? We set up our tent in the yard to test it out and we had a very positive experience! Delia ran into our room early this morning yelling, "I go camping! I go nigh-nigh with Daddy!" Ella loved it so much, she thinks she's sleeping out there again tonight. Next summer's family vacation will be a camping one indeed!

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Another campfire, more marshmallows, more s'mores. This is feeling very familiar this summer!

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I let Dave bond with the girls in the tent while I slept in the bed in the house. They had a ton of fun and actually slept okay. They stayed up late, but not crazy late.

To make it really authentic and put their crabbiness to the true test, we spent the day hiking at Big Trees. This is a day trip we've been wanting to make since we heard Gov. Schwarzenegger is proposing the closing of our state parks to help get our state out of deficit. When we left the park, we hoped it was not the last time we ever got to visit this favorite spot.

Ella was a happy hiker, gleaning all sorts of new information about the giant redwoods and how they grew and survived. Delia was unfortunately showing the effects of a less-than-normal night of sleep.

As soon as we got Delia down to the river and let her dip her toes (okay, whole body) in the refreshing (okay, icy) water, she was her joyful self. She kept singing, "I've got peace like a river..."

And just because this post is about firsts, here's a fun fact: we realized it was probably close to exactly 6 years ago TODAY that we visited Big Trees for the first time with Nick and Amy after they helped move us across the country!