2nd Annual Father's Day Camping Trip

This year we planned our Father Day camping trip at KOA Westport Beach / North Mendocino Coast just off Highway 1 - such a beautiful location, and we lucked out on the weather! The camp grounds are located on Highway 1 just north of Fort Bragg. 

We arrived shortly after check-in and quickly got to business setting up our tent and eating area. 

 The girls had a blast as Daddy's tent assistants.

While I set-up the air mattress, sleeping bags and unpack, Brian made the girls some dinner and prepared some Margaritas on the rocks for us!

 Just before sundown we decided to take a walk from our campsite to the beach - BREATHTAKING!

 As if I'm not short enough I decided to attempt some sort of sassy pose!

 The girls were chasing waves with Brian while I took pictures of the view!

 Marissa was ready to dive into the ocean - waaaay to COLD!

 Sierra on the other hand was trying her hardest to run from the waves, but you know what they say about the ocean - can't trust it! There she goes quickly down as the gnarly waves crash over her - needless to say our stay at the beach was short lived for that day - Sierra was a freezing cold mess, she was even angry at me when I told Brian that I got the wipeout on video!

Back at our campsite we roasted a few marshmallow while we wait for our friends The Roberts'!

They arrived - not just their kids, but kids sure do a great job to sit by the fire and relax! There was a small creek just behind our campsite (14) where the kids had fun tossing rocks and giggling with excitement!

Saturday, the next afternoon we all headed to the beach for an afternoon of sand in your butt fun! The kids loved climbing the rocks,

 A penny for their thoughts.... or just plain cute!

 The campgrounds hosted a Father's day celebration awarding prizes for The Best Kite, which Brian missed by minutes since the wind would not cooperate with his kite, and The Best Sand Castle - which Melanie and I had fun building with the help of Maile, Kira, Sierra and Mason. We did not win, but our Mermaid castle was pretty damn awesome! The campground also hosted an S'mores / Bonfire social at 9pm, which I totally wish we had attended - the kids were tired, but I'm pretty bummed we didn't even attempt to go - next time.

Sunday, Father's Day morning the girls were super excited to celebrate with Brian, the girls each colored a coffee tumbler for Brian's morning coffee to work,

homemade cufflinks,

 and a super cool Kite!

Maybe I should have listened to the girls when they asked me to give Brian his kite a day early for the kite contest....

 I brought a few crafts for the kids to make - here's Maile and Marissa making glow in the dark key chains - I think Punk was waiting to make a new collar!

The beach is also very dog friendly - here's Rocky and Punk resting from a long day of wrestling, the wind or bummed that they wouldn't be hanging for another day since the Roberts' decided to bail a day early - too cold, a popped mattress, or?! hehe

Later that evening Brian made the girls some Whirley pop kettle corn - Brian adds a little salt and sugar to the popcorn - YUM! While I attempted a new apples grilled in parchment paper recipe - pretty tasty, but pouring the leftover sauce over the popcorn was even tastier!

 Sierra looks WHIPPED - from 2 days on the beach in the sun and the crazy winds that afternoon!

Marissa asked why her picture was so blurry - I blame it on the fire pit smoke, but it could be my inability to focus and my lack of checking the camera settings, shouldn't camera's nowadays adapt automatically!? HA!

On Monday just before we left on our journey home we played volleyball and a game of horseshoes - and a quick stop in Healdsburg - great town by the way!

Melanie had mentioned a Duffin [Donut Muffins] bakery enroute to Mendocino that she had seen on food networks - "The Best Food I ever Ate". So of course since we were planning on driving through Sonoma I searched food network and found that the bakery was located in Healdsburg - Downtown Bakery and Creamy....we arrived an hour before they closed so their FAMOUS Duffin's were no longer available fresh, but due to popular demand (not because of the show) the Bakery had a half dozen frozen Duffin's to bake at home - SOLD. Because we arrived so late in the day ,to our advantage most of their fresh baked pastries were 1/2 off....so how could we not indulge on one of each of the following treats: Fig Newtons, Almond Tart, Rugelach, Apple Galette, Chocolate Brownie. Sierra claimed the Brownie and Marissa couldn't resist their homemade Vanilla ice cream - love that girl! Brian and I washed down every last bite with Iced Lattes - Mr. Espresso from Oakland roasts a powerful bean! The fig newtons and almond tarts were so tasty Brian went back and bought the rest of their inventory 6 almond tarts and 2 fig newtons - and then I wonder why I need to work out!

As far as the Duffin's - delicious. Since I've never had a Donut Muffin I guess I could say it's the best I've ever had, but if and when I return to the bakery I'm not going just because of the Duffin.