Camping with the Taylors at Malibu Creek State Park

We headed to Malibu Creek State Park Saturday morning to test out the whole family camping thing. We dropped Mabel off with Oma and got to the campsite about 10:30a.m. The kids were thrilled and I think Amelia asked to go camping 100 times. Their favorite thing...playing in the tent. Nicole, Paul and the kiddos showed up shortly after us and we got everything set up and then headed out for a hike. Amelia was in the backpack and the other kids were troopers and walked most of the way. It was HOT! We got to the rock pool and it cooled us off quickly. The Taylors cooked dinner and then it was smore's time. The Meinhardt kids went to bed easily (only a couple "mommy" and "daddy" from the tent) but the Taylor kiddos were way too excited to not only be in a tent but to be with each other. Blaise kept Simone up :) We all went to bed but the campers next to us decided it would be really fun to stay awake until 2a.m. 1:30 a.m....Amelia wakes up screaming bloody murder (I think they call those night terrors) and didn't want anything to do with being in my or Ryan's arms. I put her in the car and drove around for 10 minutes and she was fine. Thankfully the camp spot to out other side was empty so once those party animals went to bed it was quiet and we slept until 7. Breakfast was our responsibility! Bacon, eggs and pancakes. We packed up and went to another water spot before heading home. Overall, on a scale 1-10, it was a 5 or 6. We now know what to bring, how to make it easier, etc. Now, if we could just figure out how to get Amelia to nap because she was one tired and grumpy girl all day today!!!!!

They loved their new sleeping bags. Too bad they kept slipping out of them during the night :)

View from our campsite!