Camping in Los Padres National Forest

I was feeling left out last week because my sister and her family were in Yosemite for their annual family trip. Jon's family goes each year and when they come back they always rave about how awesome it is! I meant to make reservations in the fall so we could join them although forgot and thus we were left at home! Poor us...not really! Karl and I decided to plan a few small camping trips this summer. We both feel it is so good for the kids to be outdoors and in nature. We also love the family time! On a whim we drove to the Los Padres National Forest outside of Santa Barbara on Saturday. We were lucky to find a campsite! Close to the campground was a stream that the kids had a great time exploring. We then did all the usual camping things and hit the beach on the way home. Various times during the trip Matt said, "Mommy and Daddy, I just love camping!" It is interesting to see the boy's personalities and how different they are. Matt loved sitting around the campfire and talking and hanging out in the tent and Micah wanted to hike, explore and play in the dirt with his trucks. Occationally Karl and I would have to split up and one of us would hang back and chat about the birds, trees and life in general with Matt while the other would explore with Micah. Even with their different personalities they are playing more and more with each other. It just warms my heart to see them play with eachother. It is usually a short lived feeling because inevidably one of them will wack the the other on the head with a toy or try to steal the other's toy!
This little trip was in preparation for a 4 day camping trip up north in Mammoth Lakes, CA in mid July.
Enjoy the pics. The last one is of the boy's faces after an ice cream treat in Ventura. Matt said he wanted purple ice cream! Lucky kid because they had purple and blue cotton candy ice cream. Gross!!