El Capitan State Beach Camping Trip

Our first camping trip of the summer... coming off the heels of 4th of July!
We headed to El Capitan State Beach just north of Santa Barbara.


Our tent - the SoulPad.






The view from the road by our tent.


We headed down to the beach and the kids found a cave. It wasn't deep, but they still had fun looking around.


We saw three dolphins.


Matt


Snack time...


getting ready for s'mores :)




Emma with her fire.


Our pad at night... the glowing orb... makes it very easy to find at night on the way back from the bathrooms!



On day 2, we spent a few hours down at the beach. The kids played in the water and we explored the shoreline.


There were many piles of mollusks. I wasn't sure if they were alive or not...


While walking on the beach we found a couple of clear jelly blobs. Ben brought one home.


another blob that Heeli and Sarah found...


We couldn't figure out what it could be exactly... until... we found this. It is a red striped sea nettle.


It was a great short camping trip. The beach is nice... but cold and windy... I much prefer the mountains :)

4th of July

The 4th was in Ripon at Shannon's parents home. Jeanne decorates the whole house in red, white, and blue... including the backyard fountain!


We took a little bike ride around the town.




Family around the table.


Brandon checking out the fireworks...




Our fireworks show!



We set up the ladder and a board to put the fireworks on for a better show.


Ground flowers...


The finale!


Mike with the old fashioned sparklers!

a little gem - Bravo Farms

Every year we go to Ripon for the 4th of July and every year we pass all these billboards that say to, "Stop at Bravo Farms - Cheese Tasting"... so we did!

What a great little place! They have a lot of neat decor, peddle cars, restaurant, ice cream shop, a gift shop with nuts and, of course, cheese!




They also had this really cool tree house! The kids and Matt went up into it.



They had a petting zoo with bunnies, goats, and donkeys.




Here's a "play room" for the weary traveler.


And the cheese is yummy!

The sun was getting in Brandon's eyes... so he's Cool Baby!

Making Apricot Jam

It's summer time... time for making jam!
We went to our friends who have three large apricot trees and started picking. Many were already on the ground... We ate as we picked. Delicious!




Ben is doing his job...


Brandon also helped.


And Sarah. They climbed trees, the ladder, and used the little basket on a stick thingy.


Our booty! MMMMMMMMM


When I got home, I was busy preparing jars and fruit for the jam making.




into the bathtub!


Pitted fruit..


Blended...defintately not shaken or stirred!


into the pot.


Jars staying hot in the oven.


Canning!


Finished jars...


Apricot Jam!


OH MY GOODNESS!!! THIS IS SO YUMMY!


28 cups of apricot fruit
7 cups sugar
4 packages of pectin
made almost 12 (16oz) jars of jam