San Elijo Camping

This year's family vacation to San Elijo was special. Every year is special, but this was the last year with two "kids." Heather had turned 18, but she was still at home so-to-speak, and still a kid. When we return as a family, Heather will be an independent, adult human. While I sat on the beach I kept having flashing backs of the little people who used to run around on the beach in front of my chair and build sand castles for hours. Sniff, sniff.  Anyway, we brought Scarlet with us, and she loved the beach. We took her for walks and let her hang out around the campfire. She slept with Jenna, climbed up to give Kelly hugs and love the dog beach. We had to keep her on a leash which was a bummer because she would have galloped around forever. We took her to Besta Wan because they are dog friendly. She did great! You know, we had originally thought about saving up for a trip to Europe this past year because we were going to be celebrating Heather's graduation, her 18th birthday, my 50th birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary. But after talking about it for a bit, Heather decided she wanted to have her senior summer to be full of all the sentimental things she's loved over the years. San Elijo is one of those things, and we were so grateful to get a camping spot and to have so much fun together hanging out at the beach, playing games like Hearts, and sitting around the campfire.

Half Dome Again!

8/17/16  Preparing and packing while watching the Olympics...

8/18/16  Meeting Kelly in Los Angeles (Jodi and I drove the girls up) so they could get a head start on their journey...

8/19/16  Backpackers camp in the valley...

8/20/16  Day 1 Bus ride to Tuolumne Meadows and Hike from Tuolumne to Lake Evelyn...

8/22/16  Day 2 Hike Lake Evelyn to Merced Lake...

8/22/16  Day 3 Hike Merced Lake to Little Yosemite Valley...

8/23/16  Day 4 Hike up Half Dome and back out to the valley...

Kelly took Heather and MacKenzie to Yosemite for their traditional summer hike.  This year they started hiking from Tuolumne Meadows and hiked over 50 miles in four days.  They saw beautiful scenery, but it was some serious hiking. Kelly ended up having issues with both his stomach and his knee and had to stay behind on the last day while the girls hiked Half Dome on their own.  Oddly, I wasn't nervous. I knew the girls were super safety-aware and responsible, and both girls had made the hike a couple of times. They knew the trail and knew the precautions. We knew there would be rangers and other nice hikers along the way. They were prayerful in their decision to make the hike, and they did it amazingly. We reflected on the perfection of this experience as the girls will be heading out into the world as adults in just a year. The confidence this trip gave them was priceless for this time in their lives. After hiking back to Kelly, they packed up and hiked out to the valley to come home.  An amazing adventure with amazing memories.

San Elijo State Beach 2015

Sunday arrival meant no beach time, but the girls ran down and had a spot of fun anyway.

 Being in the water with Dad is the best whether boogie boarding or rafting the waves.

 Sometimes we get too busy to check out the sunset, so I made sure to get a few in this year.

 The Mormon Battalion Center

 Old Town San Diego - We toured the barn, school and Victorian house street as well as eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

 No pictures due to not having water protection on our phones, but this is an image of one of the sea caves we kayaked to on our LaJolla Sea Cave tour. Jen and Heather got queasy, we are pretty sure Heather did more damage to her tailbone getting bounced over waves on the way out, but it was still a fun tour. I'm glad we did it simply to have a new adventure in SD.

When we weren't in Old Town or at the sea caves, we were in camp and on the beach. Michelle and Sarah Holbrook joined us for an overnight stay. Sarah broke her nose on a surf board which took some friend time away, but it was still so awesome to have them stay overnight and play. Judy and Bill came to visit one day too. We sat on the beach and later went to VGs for a doughnut.  This was a great week of fun and relaxation. Such great family memories!