Portals Camping Trip to Dos Picos

Before we packed up and headed off for our first neighborhood camping trip, I took the kids to Spanish Landing to meet some Wine Night friends and their kids for some fun in the sun.  This is Tatum and Ty playing with Keira, Connor, Parker and Elle.  They're all so cute!

Keira and Ty really get along great.  They're about 6 months apart and seem to communicate well and have a lot in common. It's so cute to see them interact with each other.

And look at sweet Elle! 

Parker was a bit weary of the water and didn't want to get too close.  But Ty was louring him out to play.

And that's all it took.  Parker got out there and started splashing away, his mom Eileen was so surprised!

We all decided that we loved Spanish Landing and definitely plan to come back again soon. :)

But it was time to head home, pack up and enjoy some neighborhood camping!  About 7 neighbor families packed up and met out at Dos Picos, a camp ground just beyond Ramona.  It was a hot weekend but the area they booked for us was nice and shaded so a perfect relief from the heat.  The Budds hung their hammock and the fun began!

Even Dan got a turn!  I missed catching him fall out the back with his beer.  But not a drop was spilled.  True professional. :)  But soon after this, the ranger came and made us take it down since it was tethered to the trees.  It wasn't hurting the tree, party pooper!

Here's Tatum and Ty taking the dogs on a walk with Ashley and Olivia.  It was so nice to be camping with lots of kids of all ages.  Since our kids are young yet, I've never really let them head off without me before.  But with all the older kids around, it was great to send them off and stay at the camp site and chat with the neighbors, knowing the kids were in safe hands.

Each meal was prepared by a different household or group, so Friday night dinner was brats, hot dogs, baked beans, and salad by our house and the Richardsons.  Here's the boys grilling away.

And we pulled all the tables together so we had a large eating area.  It was great!

They have a nice park at Dos Picos so after a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon and fruit prepared by Paige, we walked the kids over to the park before it got too hot.  Here's Tatum and Anderson!

We had to get some sliding in before the slide was too hot to go on.

And look at this climbing monkey!  Anderson made his way to the top!

Ty loved Kelsey and her friend Daniel.  They were so sweet to play with him and include him in their walks.  He still talks about the girl that played with his toy cars. :)

And here's our youngest camper, Rhys, at just over 5 months.  He did great and Tatum loved being around him and "helping" to entertain him.  She loved putting this hat on him, too cute.  He was a great sport as was his mom Susan.

And Kate brought all the kids squirt bottles from Home Depot, great idea!  Of course I think the big boys had more fun squirting people than the kids. :)  But in between some squirt fights, a butterfly landed on Matt's knee.  All fighting stopped for a few seconds. :)

Ty and Colin gave up with the squirt bottles and went for the water guns!

And another great feature of this campsite is that they set up kid activities all throughout the day.  So here are the kids heading over to paint rocks with the camp counselor.  They loved it!  They also saw animal furs and got to pet a snake!

And they also had some water fun.  Here's Kyle, the camp counselor, going over the rules with the kids. 

And here's the large ball the kids knocked around the grassy area while the sprinklers were on, very refreshing on a hot day!

Ty was a little put off by the size of the ball and all the kids so he stayed on my lap and just watched.

But Tatum was right out there, running and holding hands with our neighbor Phoebe.  She's 9 and was so sweet to let Tatum tag along with her.

Our attempt at a family photo.

 

Ty caught this picture of Anderson, cute!

And all the kids made a human pyramid for the cameras!

Funny faces and all!

Saturday night we enjoyed smores after dinner, yum!

And Tatum loved riding her bike around the camp site.  She also enjoyed the showers!  Every night we'd go in to wash off our feet, eww they would get so dirty.  But Saturday night some of the older girls let her shower with them and she loved it!  I wasn't even around and she took her towel and gear and showered herself, I was so impressed!  Her hair was even washed!  It's amazing what kids can do when older kids are around. :)  We all had a wonderful camping experience with our Portal families and can't wait for next year!  Thanks Bells for organizing!

Ty's 3rd Birthday!!

My baby is 3!  Wow, time flies, that's for sure.  I can't believe my little man is as big and strong as he is.  For his birthday, we decided to go to this bouncy house park where they have lots of bouncys to go in and check out, sounded like lots of fun and exactly what Ty would want. 

And he loved it!  It was a bit hot but we drank lots of water while we were there and the kids couldn't get enough of climbing...

and sliding. :)  Of course they said you're suppose to slide facing forward but with Ty's fear of heights, that wasn't happening. 

And they both loved this one.  You crawled in the dinosaurs mouth and then you came out his bottom, oh the potty talk that was had after that!

Garrett was great about going down the big slides, I was more the picture taker on the safe ground. :)

And Ty finally started going down facing forward and loved it!

The big sister.  Tatum is always looking out for her brother, such a sweet girl.

Look at this one, huge!

Daddy and daughter.

And then it was time to head home for some present opening.  Lots of fun gifts!

Grandma Dini got him this truck with tools so he can build it and pull it apart, he loves it!

A happy birthday boy.

And then Ty's actual birthday was Monday and Grandma Dini had to fly out that morning.  But Shauna came over to celebrate and brought more presents!

Wow, Spiderman!  He's Ty's favorite and he got quite a few new Spiderman things. :)

I love this sweet face.  At three, Ty is loving, caring, but a wild child.  He expresses his love and emotion with his hands so you either get lots of squeezy hugs and kisses or a whack with a sword.  He's a boy I guess, rough and tough, but a lover too. 

And then the biggie was a Spiderman bike!  Look at his face!

And to top the night off, we had cupcakes!

Happy Birthday my big boy!

And a fun birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without party hats. :)

And dress up.

The next evening, Garrett and Ty got right to work on the bike.  Ty loves tools and fixing things, he's just like his daddy.

It's completed!

Now to test it out!  He loves it, not that he gets out and rides too often since we don't have a great bike riding area in front of our house, but he loves that he has his own bike and Spiderman is all over it!