Camping 2011

This weekend Paul, Clara and I went camping at Sanborn Park here in Santa Clara County.  It is a beautiful park in the Santa Cruz mountains and our campsite was literally located right on the San Andreas Fault.  There was a creek right by our campsite that runs along the fault itself.  Normally I don't like to camp within an hour of my home because it is so tempting to just go home and sleep in my bed and take a shower, but we weren't sure how well Clara would handle camping so it was nice to be just 20 minutes from home in case we needed to bail.  Our friends the Millers went with us with their two sons.  We drove up Friday night after Paul and Jason got off work.  Jason helped Paul set up our tent.

Friday night we had KFC for dinner and just hung out, chatting and putting the kids down for the night.  I was worried that Clara would be too cold, but thanks to our awesome weather here in the Bay Area, even though it was a chilly night, it wasn't too bad actually.  We just double swaddled her with a warm fleecy outer blanket and put her in the pack-n-play right next to our blow-up mattress.  She woke up happy as could be on Saturday and hung out with me and Paul in the sleeping bags for a while until she fell asleep again for an early morning nap.

I always get teased for putting on make-up while camping, but with my coloring (or lack thereof) mascara and eyebrow pencil are pretty much mandatory.

While Clara slept in, Paul and I made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage links for everybody for breakfast along with blueberries, plums, strawberries, and cherries (I went a little overboard on the fruit when I was shopping for supplies at Costco).  Paul actually did most of the cooking.

These pancakes may look a little dark, but I promise they were perfect.  That is just the way our griddle cooks.

After breakfast, clean up, and some awake time with Clara, we went for a nice long hike with the kids.  Clara stayed awake for about 5 minutes but she just can't keep her eyes open when I carry her on walks. 

We had a laid-back afternoon of napping and reading books along with another short hike.  In the evening, Jason's sister and her husband showed up with pizza and we played games around the fire.  Here is a photo of the entire group:

 We packed up Sunday morning, which was a little drizzly but not too bad, and headed home for much-needed showers.

It was so nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful area we live in with friends and share our love of camping with our little Clarabelle.