Santa Barbara with the Shumways

We took a very last minute and spontaneous trip to Santa Barbara, CA for some camping at the beach with our friends the Shumways.  I LOVE Janet so much.  I admire what a good mom and wife she is in her family.  I also admire her homeschooling style and her ability to make everything fun.  She is so relaxed and easy going that when I am around her I feel like I am such a stressed out uptight person!  (I know that sounds strange, but I promise that's a compliment to her.)

Luke and Isabel had fun collecting rocks and shells while Sylvia was determined to collect as much sand in her pants as possible.  The eight kids had so much fun together while the adults stayed up late chatting.  From the Shumways we learned a new parenting trick:  When your child is incessantly talking to you about video games, Harry Potter books, Transformers, or any other subject that you have no idea about, just say, "Thanks for telling me that."  This phrase is now used by Joey and I constantly...(sometimes even to eachother.)

There was a trail on the edge here where Luke and I are standing and right after I took this picture, Luke pointed out some people on bicycles and let me know that riding a bike there was dangerous and that they would surely fall off the cliff.

Isabel with some mermaid hair.

because she was so excited to take her swim suit to the beach, she kept taking it out of her back pack and putting it on, so of course we accidentally left it.

Hazel was a little afraid of walking in the sand.

Rusty's Pizza

"Watch the hand Joey!"

Some cute skinny boys!  It was fun calling the Lukes by their real names, Luke S. and Luke V.

Here come the Shumways, now we can start the party.

My little nature boy was so excited about all of the rocks, shells and crawly things.

Janet, Aaron, and Simon.

Thank you to Joey for being so spontaneous and for doing all of the packing bags in the car, putting up the tent and cooking the tin foil dinners!