The boys first camping trip!

October 10, 2011- Keric, Ryan, and I went camping with a bunch of great friends at South Carlsbad Beach. We've been planning this trip for a while. It's hard to find a place to tent camp in San Diego County so you have to plan ahead. We were so lucky a bunch of our friends could come with us!

This was basically a first for me too. I went camping once when I was in high school but that's about it. I've never owned my own sleeping bags or tents, let alone a campfire grill. Luckily, our friend Miss Megan and her little boy Cayd let us do a dry run at their house about a month ago. We camped out in their back yard. All of the boys had a blast and Megan and I got very little sleep. It was a lot of fun and got Keric and Ryan really excited about our beach camping trip.

  
    Fast forward a month and we are at the beach! It was pretty over cast or "socked in" as it's called in San Diego as it's more of a fog than clouds but, who cares, a cloudy day at the beach is still a day at the beach.
  

                                            
    
     We were joined by Miss Megan and Cayd, Miss Suzanne and Elina, Miss Karrie, John and Riley, and Miss Abbie, Ben and Nate. All of these kids have been hanging out together since they were super tiny or for the younger siblings, since birth. It is an awesome thing watching them all grow up together.

     It didn't take too long to get the tents all set up with everybody pitching in. After we we were all unpacked and set up we headed down to the beach. It was a little chilly out so I was doubtful any of the kids would hit the water but wouldn't you know mine headed right in. Keric seemed oblivious to the fact that it was 70 outside and the water was about 63 degrees. He and Cayd headed in first, quickly followed by Nate and Ryan. None of them lasted too terribly long but they were having fun.

                                  
     Everybody worked up a good appetite and we were ready to eat! Megan made hotdogs, quesadillas, pollo asada, and carne asada. Everything was fantastic! After everyone had their main course it was time for S'mores!  I think the moms liked them even more than the kids. They were content with just the chocolate bars and marshmallows. : )

     After all that it was time for glow sticks and flashlights! What is it about those darn glowsticks??? Hopefully somebody got some good photos of that because I didn't.

    Speaking of glowsticks...Have you ever heard of phosphorence or bioluminesence? I hadn't until about 2 weeks ago. Then it seemed like every day on Yahoo or the news or Facebook, somewhere...I was hearing about it. It's not like I've never been to the beach. Probably been about, oh, I don't know, 200 times. Never heard of it. Anyhow, Keric and I are standing there staring at the waves at about 7:30-8 o'clock and sure enough, the waves start turning a neon blue, akin to the Northern lights, but in the ocean. SO COOL! I didn't get a picture but it looked similar to this.

   Not long after the light show the kids, and the Momma's, were about ready for bed. The next morning we were all up pretty bright and early. Megan did the most wonderful task of building a fire and brewing coffee! God bless her. It was much needed after not a lot of sleep. Then Karrie took over and made us all pancakes. It was a beautiful morning surrounded by friends, good food, good coffee, the ocean, and all of our kiddos running around wild. A little hectic but unbelievably good. Thank you God for putting these awesome ladies and their kids into my life.

These are just a few more random photos of our trip.

Cayd, Riley, Elina, and Ryan. Deep in discussion.

The ocean at sunrise

Keric and his frogs.

Jewelry Organizing

I have been obsessed with Pinterest lately and found some really cute ideas to organize earrings, necklaces, etc.

 I used one of the ideas for making my earring organizer and started to get crazy crafter and make a necklace organizer.

     This was super simple to make. Just a picture frame from around the house and some picture hanging wire. You could get more creative than me and paint the frame but I liked this one just the way it is.



Luckily, I stumbled upon this belt and scarf holder for your closet at the dollar store and decided while not crafty or particularly cute, it was too simple not to use! 



Now for anyone wondering, I am not turning my family blog into a how to manual but I thought these ideas were both so easy and useful I just had to share!