CA getaway part 1....

Well I had been complaining about the heat and told Joel I couldn't take it anymore and begged him to get out of here. So we planned a totally last minute trip to CA. Normally we just go to San Diego, which I love, but everything was booked or super expensive, so Joel got creative and planned a different type of trip. We took our first camping trip as a family, and although at first I was a little worried how it would all go, I was just so happy to be out of the heat that I really didn't care. We couldn't find any open camping spots along the beach in San Diego, so we went up to Northern CA instead.

We knew it would be a long drive, so we left at 2am Wednesday morning, to try to get a bulk of the driving out of the way while the kids were sleeping.We made it to L.A. by about 7 am, stopped for breakfast, and then continued on our way. The kids did such a great job (partly thanks to modern technology). Gavin slept restlessly on the way to L.A. so after breakfast he took a nother long nap which was great. Look at these cutie pies in their jammers:

I love it when he sleeps like this!This is his monster face.Did I mention we are not above bribery to keep kids happy on long road trips!

Joel had us camping at a few different spots but we stopped about 3/4 of the way there at Pismo Beach to get out and stretch and let the kids play around.

Kade likes to run away from the water.Gavin still isn't too sure about the water, but loves to look at it and come close:)

From there we made it to our first stop in Big Sur. It was beautiful, and chilly. We went out to dinner at this restaurant on top of the mountains known for its view:

We are ready to eat!

Look at this view!! When the fog is not so thick you can see the ocean too.

My gorgeous boys!

Our self portrait...I think the only picture we took of just the two of us the whole trip!

Then back to the campsite. Here are our living quarters. It was a beautiful campsite, and they had showers and toilets so I was happy.
The next morning the boys went down to look at the creek and we went exploring.

We were in the redwood forest, look at the size of the tree stump the boys are standing on!

We could have camped inside this tree!

Then, we packed up our stuff and headed down the coast for our next stop...more to come soon!