Lake Cachuma

This past summer we had our first experience camping as a whole family.  I was extremely nervous about it because I am NOT a camper at all but decided I would give it a try this once and see how it goes.  We prepared and planned and coordinated with a few different families that we love (Fifields, Watsons, Lundquists, Geddies, Moodys, Keelers) and were off.

 We got to Lake Cachuma (just outside Santa Barbara) Thursday afternoon and immediately reserved 3 campsites for all of the families.  It ended up being the PERFECT spot.  Good shade, privacy, view of the lake, close to our motor home friends, bathrooms very close......basically we nailed it.

We set up camp and kids were off to the lake to explore.  We had our first round of fishing with no luck but that was ok.  They had big plans to go late night fishing and early morning fishing the next day (which was very successful!).  The meals went smoothly and were so delicious.  Seriously, hot dogs, pasta salad, bbq chicken, dutch oven chicken, sausage/hashbrown/egg breakfasts, yummy sandwiches and good snacks.  We nailed it!

It was so nice having  other families camping with us because the kids had so many people to play with and explore with.  The parents could sit and visit, laugh, and cook together.  I've decided that's the best way for us to go camping.

We had 2 tents set up: 1 for Doug and the 3 older kids and another for me and Joshy so we could put him down early and the kids wouldn't wake him up later.  It was pretty cold at night and that was the worst part.  The 1st night I was shaking with cold and so I switched sleeping bags with Doug because he's always hot.  That helped a lot the next 2 nights.  The days were perfect weather and we had a great time swimming, going to the beach, heading into Solvang, going to the lake, and riding our bikes around the camp.

Here are some pictures that hopefully show how much fun we had:

I hope we can do it again next summer with our friends again.  I was definitely ready to come home by Sunday morning and was so over being filthy dirty.  That part I will never enjoy but it created such fun memories for our family.  Here's to next year!