Lake Cachuma Family Vacation-Day Two

I had maybe 4 hours of sleep in total on and off in the tent. I think we were on a slope cause the whole night the kids and Gabe were rolling on my side. It was not too cool which was good. It was fairly easy waking up in the morning. I got up and washed up and dressed than it was Ally and I on breakfast duty for everyone. I made up french toast while Ally cooked up some sausage,Bacon and Hash.
We had a boat reserved for the whole day so we all took turns going out and using. While we were relaxing after breakfast we noticed a blue Jay that kept coming to steal some sunflower seeds we had and then all the squirrels were coming over to get some scraps.

I went ahead and threw some seeds out for the squirrels. They came out and started hanging around us for the rest of the morning.
Mr. Blue Jay was so friendly that we could put the sunflower seeds in our palm and he would come over and perch on our hands and eat the seeds right out of it. We were having Kelsey and Parker hand feed the Blue Jay as well. Here is a shot of him landing on Parkers hand. He was afraid at first as you can see on his face.

Parker liked the bird so much he now wants a pet blue jay. He wanted that one but you know...

Here is a cute shot of Kelsey and Parker waiting for the blue Jay to come back for more seeds.

John,Kirsten,Tara, Kelsey and John Jr. Left to take the boat out for a spin and me and Gabe and ally and my kids and My brother and his friend just hung out. We all started feeding the wildlife and we were getting animals coming out from everywhere. The squirrels were cracking us up. They look like Meerkats. They had one the would make a LOUD chirp noise and the others would scatter. We noticed Hawks flying overhead so I guess this was their way of taking cover from their prey.

I took so many pictures of Parker feeding the bird.

Once John and Kirsten and Tara came back Me and Ally,Parker and Gabe went to take the boat out. First we loaded the cooler with some beer than off to the boat. We all had to wear life vest in the marina. Once we got out we could take off the vests.

Once we hit open water it was Vests off and beer on. It was such a NICE day.

CHEERS~

Gabe was our Captain

A good view

Once we got back then it was fishing time. All the guys and the bigger kids (parker and Kelsey) went out on the boat to go fish while us ladies hug out drinking beers under the shade. It was really hot so I put on Ava's bathing suit and let her play in her little blow up pool I brought with me. I took SO many pool pictures..I may need to do a whole scrapbook of it.

She loves her pool She played in it for about 40 minutes

Gabe gave me a call and said they had the boat right by where we were camped out so we walked over to the view of the lake and there they were.

A close up. I guess after we walked away my uncle caught a trout. Scott caught a bass that he cooked up later and gave everyone a taste It was really good. Parker did not catch anything on the boat but later that night my brother,scott and gabe and parker all went to fish off the ground and Parker caught a trout. He threw it back in ofcourse.

Once everyone was back we had some hot dogs and hamburgers that Kirsten cooked up and then it was time for the Scavenger hunt that Tara made up for everyone. She had made us all a list and set us up in teams of two to have one hour to find everything on the list. My uncle was teamed up with Scott,My brother and Ally, Kirsten and Gabe and Kelsey and Me and Parker. Tara had a bunch of prizes that were hidden in the prize tent and everyone was given a LEI to wear. We had to take pictures of certain items and collect things as well such as a clover,drift wood a bug, 3 different type of leaves and take pictures in front of an RV and take a picture with a new friend upon many many other things. Here is Me and Parkers picture in front of an RV

Then here is one of a friend that we made. We came in third place because well one of the items was to find a Caterpillar which was impossible to find! John and Scott got first and Gabe Kirsten and Kelsey got second.

It was night time soon so we started up the fire and hung out all night. We made more smores,cracked cheesy jokes and talked amongst each other.

The kids fell asleep pretty quickly that night. After drinking beers all day we were all getting tired as well. It was a pretty warm night.

We even had a little weenie roast which was pretty good. I forgot how much fun it was to roast wieners.
Kirsten,John and Tara went to bed so Me and Ally,Gabe,Alex and Scott stayed up and drank beers and played drinking games around the fire til like 1am. We finally turned in and it was a much better night. Ava slept through the whole night. We were nice and toasty.

The next day I woke up about 8am and walked with Parker over to take a shower. I came back and Kirsten and I cooked up some breakfast burritos for everyone while the guys packed up the tents and started loading the cars. We sat around little bit and then it was on the road back to the city. We had a really great time and we are looking forward to more camping in the future.

Lake Cachuma Family Vacation-Day One

Well I am back from vacation. It was our first of many to come Family camping trips. ( we are going to do a beach camping trip at the end of August)This trip consisted of a 3 day 2 night camping at Lake Cachuma with family and friends. Gabe and I went with Parker and Ava and My uncle and his wife Kirsten and their two children Kelsey and John Jr, My brother Alex and His friend Scott, My friend Ally and Kirsten's friend Tara. It was a pretty good group of people. Next time we hope to get my parents to come along as well. Anyways the previous night we packed up our cars cause the campground is basically first come first pick so we wanted to find a good site that we can get two spots right next to each other since 4 cars were going and one campsite only permits 2 cars. We woke up at 5am and headed over to my uncles place so everyone could caravan. Anyway I took SO many pictures (i wish I could have taken even more cause there was a lot of stuff that we did that I did not even take pictures of. Anyways there are going to be day one and two of this trip cause of all the pictures. I did not do the last day cause I packed up my camera and just hung out before we left on the road.

We got to the campgrounds about 9am and my brother and his friend showed up about 30 minutes after us. We started unpacking and got our tents set up and started bringing out the food. We had a little plan sheet for stuff to do and what we would eat but our schedule basically was dropped and we just winged in. Once we had camp set up we just got the chairs out and lounged around drinking beers. Here are the guys hanging out. Gabe spent the whole weekend in NO SHIRT so this is the only photo I think of him with a shirt on from the whole weekend.
The "plan" was for us to set up camp and Ally and I were going to make breakfast but Lunch time came quick so we made some cheeseburgers and had some chips for lunch. Here is Tara cutting up some Onions while my uncle John grilled some burgers.

While the most of us were just relaxing in the shade there was a nice breeze and Gabe was talking about how it would be perfect to fly a kite. Than Scott said he had a kite so Gabe and Parker and Ava went to go fly the kite. Ava was laughing so much at the kite twirling behind Gabe.

The Kite Broke so The guys drove off to the general store to buy another. They were all rocking out in the convertible. My brother was sitting in the back of the car like that through the campsite like as if they were on the Vegas strip.

Gabe and Parker and Ava went to go on a little hike while Ally, I, Kirsten and Tara got ready to go to the swimming pool to go take a dip cause it was pretty hot and we needed a pick me up. Gabe and Parker and Kelsey and my Uncle John went to. We had to do a baby switch so Kirsten and I went in for a little bit while the daddies stayed with the babies (since babies were not permitted in the pool) than the mommies came out to watch the babies while the daddies swam.

After a nice swim it was time to open a bottle of wine and to sit and relax some more.

UT OH look who found the Graham Crackers for the Smores

For Dinner we were going to have BBQ Ribs,Roasted Corn on the Cob and Potato salad. We had some issues cooking the ribs. It ended up that we had to slow cook the ribs for 3 hours!The grill was just so high up from the coles. So we all decided since it was going to be awhile till dinner was ready we would go walk around.

My Uncle and Brother and Rena (my uncles Dog came too) hanging out while the food was cooking.

Kelsey wanted to roast a marshmallow while the fire was going on before we threw the ribs on. Tara was showing Kelsey how to put her mellows on the stick.

Gabe was suffering from a tooth ache so he went to nap with Ava in the tent and we decided to walk over to the Lake and check out the sun setting. It was so beautiful! Everyone was taking pictures.

Here is a great picture of the HENRY Family. I wish Gabe was not in Pain cause I would have loved to have this same shot of the McCaffrey Family.

Since I could not have Gabe and Ava in the picture cause they were napping I had Ally and Parker in Mine.

STUNNING!!!

Parker just could not wait for the night fall to come so he could use his flashlight. He was so funny when we went to go hike over to get the lake view Which was just like 25 feet away he packed up his back pack with the first aid kit some juice boxes and some snacks for everyone.

Well here is One half of the McCcaffrey Family

Self Shot of Me in front of the Lake Which is only 14 miles from Solvang Believe me we all were tempted to make a wine tasting stop but we did not.

We wanted to take a longer walk so we headed back to our campsite to pick up a few beers and check the ribs and all of us go on a dusk hike. I was lucky enough to get Gabe and Ava to come with So the whole group of us went on the hike. Here is a shot of our campsite.

We had the lot across too which is where Alex, Scott and Tara set up their tents

We found a nice patron to take a group photo of all of us on our hike

Nightfall comes quick out there...I barely remember taking this picture but I know it was during our hike.

Once we got back we checked on the ribs and they were PERFECT! 3 hours of slow cooking on an open fire did them well. They were so moist and tasty. We all Grubbed at the table.

We had some fun conversation too.

Time to relax around the campfire and tell stories and make smores

It is really hard to take photos in the dark around a fire. It gets SO pitch black dark out there.

SMORES!!!!

I did not stay up so late. I think everyone went to bed fairly early cause we all woke up so early. It was not too cold but let me say I did NOT have a good night sleep. Ava woke up like 3 times in the middle of the night. Everyone keeped rolling on me in the tent cause I think we were on a slope and there was a whole lot of snoring going on and I am very sensitive sleeper when it comes to snoring. It was rough and uncomfortable. Hopefully the next night is better.

Happy Birthday John Jr.

Last Thursday night I went over to Kirsten and Johns house (Aunt and Uncle) To help prep for our family camping trip to Lake Cachuma we were going on over the weekend but before we did that we celebrated John Jr's First Birthday!!

Time for Birthday Cake I think he was pretty amazed by the candle. Kelsey and Parker helped blow out the candle. I just find it really special to see one candle on a birthday cake.
Time to Dig In!! He was having a good time

Ok time for everyone else to enjoy a piece

A PRESENT

Parker, Kelsey helped open the present which he really loved. We had such a great time celebrating. The year went by fast. I can't believe he is ONE YEARS OLD!!

It was late and the kids were getting sleepy and we had to get up pretty early in the morning to head out to the Lake for the weekend. So he played with his toy for a little bit and then it was time for bed.