Ocean Shores, Again

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We squeezed in one last weekend camping trip before our departure. We were joined by our friends Scott and Susana and their daughter Sophia, and our mutual friend Erik and his son Sam (Sam's mom Kim was off visiting family). We decided to go to Ocean Shores again because the girls really wanted to fly kites again and the winds are pretty reliable there.

We stayed at Ocean City State Park again but this time we got there during daylight and got to explore it. The weather was forecast to be cool but it was very pleasant and we had fun relaxing on the beach. Audrey got to explore the dunes with me. We built a camp fire and roasted marshmallows, of course. I was the paranoid parent keeping kids away from the fire. Our fellow campers included a lot of teenagers; I got the impression they were celebrating the end of school with camping trips. It seemed like it might be a loud night but by 10:00 the campground was quiet and we slept well.

Sunday we headed to the beach adjacent to Ocean Shores (a couple of miles from the state park) and we all flew kites. There were a zillion other kites on the beach, including some incredibly large ones (as big as a small RV). In early afternoon we got on the road home, stopping at my sister Tricia's house for another feast and family visit.

Carol and I are very happy about our camper van purchase. We really stumbled across a winner. The van is running really well and we've made some improvements in preparation for our cross-country trip. We've preemptively fixed a few things that are known to break and we've added some comfort items like screens for the windows and the sliding door opening. We also got a bunch of small things repaired like the armrests and the accelerator cable (it felt funny - turns out it was just about to break) and new shocks. And Carol did a bunch of research online and has found the perfect organizers to keep things sane on a long trip. We bought the van to build memories with the girls and we are already doing that very successfully. Thanks, Lisa!