Morning two of the camping trip to Bodega Dunes had me groggily swilling down my daily thryoid pill and rousing sleepy-eyed kids while waiting for the coffee to percolate.

The hubs hiked the kids over to the bathroom while I gathered my wits and climbed into the car to take him back to our house, so he could go into work for a few hours.

We drove through the lovely pastoral scenery between the beach and our house, and I pushed him out without coming to a complete stop, so that I could quickly make a u-turn and head back to the beach.

I realized that I hadn't had any coffee after all, and stopped at a grocery store in my pajama bottoms to get some more firewood, more water and a venti decaf latte, extra hot, from Starbucks.

Back at the campsite, I found the rest of the family eating Spam and eggs and poking at the fire. My mom was mortified that I would go into an actual store in my pajamas, without even having brushed my hair or teeth. I also smelled like smoke. HAWT. I saluted her with my giant coffee and ate a slice of Spam. With my fingers.

We loaded up two cars and headed to the beach. Actually, I headed to the beach with my mom and my youngest, while the other two kids went with Grandpa and Crazy Auntie Deedee to go rent wetsuits. Unlike the first day, our day at the beach was perfect, weather-wise. It was sunny and just warm enough, with a gentle breeze.

My parents took the two dogs - Augie and Oreo down to the waterline.

The two older kids and my sister got into wet suits and got busy with the body surfing:

Seriously, thank God for Auntie Deedee because you are not going to see me out there in a wetsuit.

Once, when my attention was elsewhere, I looked up to see my 6 year old getting into the act:

Um? I was not ready for her to do that, but as these things go:

Once was enough. That water was cold!

Back at the camp, my husband finally rejoined the party. My mom asked him to hang up a simple clothesline, and with one toss, he managed to loop the rope up in an unreachable branch. Here we see the second part of that operation:

As a reward for the eventual completion of the clothesline, my mom decided to let him hold the strainer while my dad poured scalding hot water into it. He managed admirably, despite his obvious inability to follow simple instructions.

As the sun set over the water, we broke out the light sticks and had a little show.

By some fluke, I beat my mom at the card game Spit. It had been years since I played, and I am not even a little ashamed that I did some sort of crazy version of the cabbage patch right there at the table.

Oh, and then there is this:

All things considered, it was a wonderful getaway. I didn't capture any photos the next morning of the packing up camp and the return to civilization, but I will say that even a week and change later, I'm still finding sand in unlikely places.