return to reality

We got home last night after a weekend away with LOTS of family, camping at Leo Carillo State Beach near Malibu, Ca.

Today I spent most of the day washing things containing an excess of sand in them, or dirt, or seashells in pockets. Last night, when we returned, I got straight to work on cleaning out my car - for the first time, I cleaned the sand and yuck from camping out of my car as soon as we got home instead of waiting a day (okay a week). It feels so good - even though our house is full of sleeping bags to shake the dirt out of, and clothes to clean, and shoes to hose off, and much more to do, at least my car is in BEAUTIFUL shape. I will try to make that a tradition - park and clean the car. The kids helped, too, by wiping all the seats and doors with cleaning wipes while I vacuumed crevices I didn't even know Tahoe Tessy had!

Anyway, there were more than 30 family members camping together, from Bobby's side of the family, and it was SO much fun. We biked, played hours of badminton, sat around the campfire and laughed a LOT, swam in the ocean, boogie boarded, ate great food, Bobby and I and a few others ran 4 miles (because yes we're still training for a half marathon and didn't want to miss a run day), and just got to enjoy every single person who came. It was one of those trips where I felt like I got to sit and talk for at least an uninterrupted minute to each and every person there. I'll upload some of my favorite pictures once I go through and see them all myself - there are a thousand of them, it might take a minute.

some of the fun cousins and additions

dolphins off the coast

I am so lucky to have married into such a fun family - everyone is so easy to be around and just adds so much to the group. And then they all keep marrying people who just keep making it even better! And then they have kids that are just adorable and add even more. I really do just love those Johnson girls (my mother in law Mary is a Johnson girl) and what they've shown me about enjoying your family.

Here we are - Me, Mary, Ashly (one of the other "married-ins" like myself, who reap the benefits of a super fun family of COUSINS who love to hang out with each other!!!!)

And as Mary says about camping, "it takes a lot of work to have a little fun." So true. I'm still in a bit of the "work" phase, so I'll post more later.