Wright's Beach, along the Sonoma Coast, proved to be an amazing place to take the kids camping. Except for one tiny, misleading detail on the website. There are NOT, in fact, showers at this campground. Oh, no, they are at the sister camp down the road. We ended up getting a little dirt(ier) during our trip. It took me a full week to not smell smoke in my hair every time I showered. But once we accepted the news and shifted our expectations we were able to look past the egregious error and have some fun. I mean, who needs a shower when you're living in dirt. (And right there, I know I've got many of you reaffirming your strong belief that camping is NOT for them. I guess that's why God gave me boys.)
Our camp sight was nestled down in a grove of trees, but there were some camp sights that backed you right up to the ocean.We had to trek down to the water to watch the sunset each evening, those lucky campers had a front row view every night.
The kids loved the dirt, the climbing, the trees, the beach. Oh, and Frisbees. We had some crazy, ruckus games going at the end of the cul-de-sac where our tents were. Turns out that Liam has a MAJOR Frisbee throw. Like better than mine. Too bad there's no future in Frisbee throwing.
Liam made a great friend on our very first day at the beach, a 6 year old little girl named Tatum. Her family had driven all the way from Wyoming. Made our little drive seem no big deal. Liam still talks about Tatum. Since she was two years older than him, she is his measuring stick. "When I'm as big as Tatum I will be able to...."
She was our next door-camper for the 5 days we were there. What a dream to have a standby playmate.Who happened to have a really cool climbing tree in her camp sight.
Once the sun went down it was time for our camp fire. All the boys were very excited to eat some s'mores, Mommy was also a tad excited too.
The days were filled with lots of digging and playing in the sand. The beach was made out of small rocks and I tell you, I wouldn't be there for more than 10 seconds and I've got a pile full of really cool pebbles. We had Papa Duane pick up some plaster-of-paris and one afternoon we made 2 stepping stones. Grammie has one and we kept the other. 
Ryan and Papa Duane were able to be with us for part of the week before they had to go home for work related obligations. They also missed out on breaking down camp. Just in time to miss some heavy lifting. We were sure grateful for Tatum and her family that morning. They kept our boys entertained while we packed, rolled-up, dusted-off, and packed some more. Our van was bursting at the seams for the little drive back to my parent's house. We sent Duane home with the other vehicle the night before. We gave him a few things to bring back. Apparently not enough.
My big four year old doesn't nap all the time anymore. He did today. Nothing tires a boy out quite like playing in the dirt and sleepin' under the stars.
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