Our Getaway in the Woods

It's no secret that our family hasn't done a lot of traveling yet (check out my blog post on Mad About Multiples). Having twins just makes things like plane rides and long car trips a little bit more difficult (stressful?) than your average family with one child. We've spent a few long weekends at my parents' condo at Pajaro Dunes but that's about all we can handle. So when the opportunity came to stay at a family friends' cabin in Arnold, CA, came we decided it was time to bite the bullet and go for it! It was about a three hour car drive and our thought (hope) was that we'd leave around 1 pm (naptime!) and the kids would sleep part of the way. Well, wouldn't you know, they stayed up the ENTIRE time until we were about half hour away from the cabin and they both zonked out. Which meant a late nap and some crankiness when they woke up. Once we got there and settled in, the kids had a blast! We stayed four nights and five days. The kids had to sleep in "big beds," upstairs and in the same room. Gulp! This was all very new to them (and us) so without going into the crazy details let's just say the first two nights could have been episodes on Supper Nanny. We must have chased them back into bed a bazillion times the first night until they finally passed out around 11 pm. The second night we got smart (so we thought) and I put them down at their regular bedtime and layed in bed with them hoping they'd fall asleep. That took about an hour, but we were making progress. As I lay there "pretending" to be asleep, I could hear Audrey whispering to Nathan, "Come on, Natey, let's go downstairs. You open the door." By the fourth night they were so exhausted that they were asleep by the time their little heads hit the pillow, and then it was time for us to leave the next day. At least we now know it's possible!



The cabin was so beautiful and we felt very lucky to be staying there! We took the kids swimming in a man-made lake, threw rocks in a creek and played at a nearby park. It was just nice to be away for a few days and I told Todd that this was MY version of camping! He he.



Packing up the car with Dad




We spent our first day at the park









This was the life-size bear that greeted us when we arrived at the cabin. Todd told the kids that the bear loved hugs.


Stairs are so much fun. "But we don't want to take a nap!"


Getting dirty and throwing rocks






An experienced camping mom would have brought water shoes. Whoops.......





Todd loves to torment me because he knows I'm not an "out-doorsy" kind of girl.



Enjoying some homemade waffles on the deck.





Life is good when you can watch "The Little Mermaid" in your diaper.




We came to this lake two days because the kids loved it so much. We had the place to ourselves.