Ry's birthday (part 1)

Turning ten is serious business. Plus, most people only do it once. So it's important to do it up right. Because our 2-night trip to the volcano was cancelled for obvious reasons, we tried to rally our pretty disappointed son with a short camping trip instead. It was only for a night, and less family were able to sleep over because of logistics (the house in volcano had the equivalent of four bedrooms)...but I know from Ry's laughter and smiles that it all worked out just fine.

Spencer Beach Park is a little over an hour away from our house, but it was a world away from the thick vog that has covered our town for the last couple of weeks- clear blue skies. Still, the volcanic eruption was never far from our mind, as it seemed like half the campers were displaced Puna residents. The security there told us that the County increased the normal campground capacity island-wide to accommodate the evacuees, and also waived the usual 7-day camp limit for them.

We fell far, far off the veg wagon this weekend when we discovered that we forgot the veggie burgers in the freezer. And since I was *not* about to live off of quinoa salad and veggie hot dogs for the weekend, we got to eat 'real food' with the rest of the family! Grilled burgers, pineapple sausage, teriyaki chicken...yum!

Our view for the weekend...not too shabby.

This was attempt #74 to get all four boys standing on the board at once.

...and we settled on this since there are only so many hours of sunlight in a day. ;-)

Our campsite has two tents. One for the <20 20="" all="" and="" are="" around="" be="" because="" bone="" for="" futons="" large="" need="" night="" old="" one="" roll="" sore="" td="" tend="" tent="" that="" the="" their="" thick="" to="" us="" very="" who="" would="">

And finally, celebrating the soon to be 10-year old with his camping birthday cake of choice- Costco pumpkin pie. ;-) (That's a win for mom, but the 'real' cake will be made this week for a small soiree with a few friends, so I'm not totally off the hook.)