Beach time

We have been wanting to head back to the beach before school starts and we wanted to show the Colas how fun it is. I think it was a hit except this time I forgot to sunblock on Patrick!! He got fried and I felt terrible. 

 But the boys really had fun. And Amber and I got to chat and snack in the shade. 

Getting our protein in

We have definitely been getting our use out of the smoker. Jesús has been trying out new things and I have been reaping the benefits. Too bad we can't take it to California for Thanksgiving. 

So far we have made ribs, pork shoulder which made excellent pulled port sandwiches, smoked chicken and bacon wrapped shrimp. Jesús is tryint to eat carb free so all this meat is great for him. I like all the bbq but I occasionally need a little break but I appreciate not always having to cook. 

On the way home

For some reason the drive home always seems faster but the kids were tired of being in the car. We stopped at Chilis on the way home for lunch and we were acting a little crazy.

 Elena was happy to be home and have an actual bath. Its amazing what can bring these little ones joy. 

Oklahoma Camping/Cabin trip part IV

So our third day Jesús's family came and met us for lunch at our campground. We showed them around a bit and played at the playground and we showed them the all the wonderful things we have enjoyed while camping. Then we headed up the freeway to find the cabin we were renting. The Cabin was big and comfy and it had its very own big pond for fishing. So of course we started fishing right away. We had already freshened up our fishing skills while camping but Diego and Dad Moreno needed a little lesson from Jesús and then the fish started biting. Patrick was a little sad because he hadn't caught a fish yet. 

 After I caught a fish I decided to explore. The bottom balcony had a jacuzzi and beautiful view. 

 The inside of the cabin was all wood and very fun. Luckily we had a TV so the girls who didn't care about fishing were able to have fun and play and be entertained while the rest of the group was outside. 

 After showers and a cool good nights sleep, Jesús and Patrick got up early to go fishing and Patrick finally caught a fish!! This picture is terrible but I rushed out really quick with my tiny camera to take a picture. 

 Later we headed back over to the state park to check out some of the hiking trails. The rest of the Morenos and Caceres family had not seen the very cool totem. 

 Then we picked one of the shorter hikes and headed out. It was a really pretty hike with little signs along the way telling us about the different foliage. Patrick really wanted to be the hike leader and stayed ahead most of the time. 

 Amaia got tired and just sat down in the trail. She is so funny. 

 Patrick really wanted to explore what was on the other side of the bridge but the small kids were getting pretty tired so I let him go across just to check it out. 

 Then of course the little girls wanted to check it out too. 

 We found little creatures along the way, you can see a tiny frog jumping over his shoe. 

 Then he had to catch it

 After we were done with the hike, we wanted to see the dam which we had heard about and it was beautiful. The lake was huge and we saw a little path that went down to the lake. We stopped and decided to head down. It was pretty rocky and slippery but we made it down. 

 Look at this sweet man being a gentleman to help me down. Love him.

 Patrick Jesús and Diego and rock skipping contest. They all did pretty good. 

 Sweet Benjamin was pretty tired but he liked having his feet in the water.

 This is the sign we got to see every time we drove up to the cabin. Those good ol' Oklahoma people. 

 Our bed was a big king sized bed and Elena didn't want to sleep in the tiny bedroom that the bunkbeds were in. So she slept with us every night and there was plenty of room. I loved to see her tiny little self in that big ol bed. It was such a comfy bed too. I probably would have slept really well in it too if I hadn't seen the giant spiders in Roxanna and Diegos room which was on the other side of that wall. 

 We were each in charge of a dinner and we did frito boats and then we used the rest of our s'mores stuff from camping as our dessert. Amaia thought it was tasty. We will for sure be heading back to Broken Bow Oklahoma for more camping trips except we will not be going in July. We will probably try going in October or in the spring when its still cool. And next time we will find camp grounds next to the cleaner flushing toilets. We will also make sure we bring our own dry wood for those over the fire meals. I love camping and I want our kids to love it just as much. 

Oklahoma camping trip part III

We loved watching all the dear walking around

 We were a little tired of being hot all day so we took a break and went to the museum that is connected to the state park office. It was air conditioned and had nice bathrooms and that was nice little change. There was this cool totem carved out of an old tree. 

 They have wood carvings all over the place and of course Elena had to touch all of them. 

 In the center of the museum there was a log cabin that was pretty old. It was being held together with mud and straw. 

 The whole inside of the cabin had old things and an old quilt on a bed. It was pretty cool and the kids loved it. 

 They also had a little post office with an old phone and it reminded me of pioneer village in Bakersfield.

 We had a tree with a big hole in it at our campsite. When we were making lunch we found a huge lizard sitting on the tree. It was such a pretty color and Patrick loved watching it and touching it and for some reason pouring water on it. 

 For breakfast the next morning we made french toast. The kids ate a ton and Patrick would not smile for pictures. 

 Right below our campsite was the river and in the morning it was foggy and beautiful. Almost creepy. 

 While we were driving back to our campsite we saw this deer and it just stood in the road staring at us. I got some very good pictures of it posing.

 Jesús and Patrick wanted to go fishing and Elena was very cranky so I decided to lay down with her and she would not settle down until I dozed off and when I woke up she was out. And she had a good nap with no clothes on since it was so hot. 

 When they got back Jesús wanted to keep fishing so he went down to the river by us started fishing. Patrick went over to check out what he was doing and unfortunately walked right into his cast and the weight on his line hit Patrick in the head which caused a huge bump which split and bled and then the hook dragged along the side of his head which caused more bleeding and more pain. I heard a loud scream and ran like crazy down the hill. I was terrified he had been bitten by a snake or something and when I got down to where they were Jesús had his hand on Patricks head with blood everywhere and told me to get the first aid kid. Luckily we had just bought a new one and brought Tylenol just in case. Patrick calmed down and we stopped the bleeding. And he started to feel better. We wanted to cook s'mores and so we needed a fire. We bought some firewood at the front office but unfortunately it was wet and it took a long time to get it going. But we did get a chance to cook our s'mores. And they tasted pretty good after all the hard work on the fire.