Monday, June 29, 2009

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.

2 comments:

Amy, David, Cambria, and Baylen said...

Did Ava sleep in the tent with you guys? How was that? When we go on our lil Vacation in september were gonna use a lil tent thing for her to sleep in. Im scared she's not gonna sleep. Im sure she wont, haha.

Retro Mom said...

Yeah all four of us slept in the tent together. She slept better the second night. We brought her comforter to use to lay on and had a baby sleeping bag that we put her in and than put our blankets on over that and she slept between me and Parker. Gabe and I were on the sides while the two kids were in the middle. It was hard to get her to NAP. She was way to stimulated.