San Diego Day 5

Our last day…sniff, sniffL We hung around camp in the morning and then Tim and I got to take that bike ride to the beach while the DeWit's watched the kids. It was a great ride around the bay on a boardwalk which lead to the beach where the amusement park is located. It was about a 30 minute ride one way. We did the ride and then parked the bikes and walked along the boardwalk on the beach. We dreamed about all of the houses and people watched. Then it was time to head back. We made a quick lunch and then just hung out awhile. The girls and I did arts and crafts at 3:30 which was making beaded necklaces. After that we went out for dinner with the DeWit's. We went to the Old Town Mexican Café which was so delicious! Then to work off that food we went down to Seaport Village to walk around. Of course the first thing was a ride on the carousel which all the kids enjoyed. Then we took a nice walk to the Midway ship and just looked at it. We walked around a lot more and then it was time to go! We went back to camp and started packing up. Tomorrow it will be Friday and we will be leaving first thing. We will miss San Diego and Campland!

San Diego Day 4

Today was beach day! We spent the morning around the campground just hanging out and relaxing and then took off to Mission Beach. It is about a 5 minute drive and we went to the ocean by the Crystal Pier. It was a cloudy and cold day but the kids didn't care. We let them play in the sand and water for hours. They found a large hole that had been dug and continued to dig it further and they dug a moat around it too. They boogie boarded in the water and had fun with the waves. The grown ups sat around and talked, took photos, ate and played with the kids too. We we got back to camp we went straight to the pool to clean off the sand and stayed there for awhile. Then it was back to camp for dinner and campfire. Tonight we had smores and were entertained by the girls making up silly dances. Then it was off to bed… another fun day!

San Diego Day 3- Boys

Today the boys went on a deep sea fishing trip off of Point Loma. Sounds like Noah got a little sea sick but he recovered and caught the biggest fish on the boat! They all put in a couple of dollars for a jackpot and Noah won it for the biggest fish. They caught a rockfish but most importantly had a lot of fun with each other and their friends. They came back to us tired and sun burned.

San Diego Day 3- Girls

Today us girls set out to visit the San Diego Zoo. I have not been there since I was 16 and my girls have never been. It is so amazing there! First of all it was huge! We got there early because the boys had to drop us off before their fishing so we hung around Balboa park. Then we went in and started off with riding the double decker guided tour bus. We sat on the top deck, front row! It was so much fun and we could see a lot and we learned a lot as well as we toured most of the zoo. Definitely a must to get a good feel for such a large place. After that we saw some reptiles and then jumped on the aerial tram to see the Polar Bears. The tram was really neat, very high up but is was a fast ride. We had some lunch and then took in the polar bears and a lot of other animals. Leah's favorite animal was of course the deer; they had a lot of different types there. We spent a lot of time in the Elephant encounter and on the monkey trail. We took in a Sea Lion show, Megan's favorite animal. Of course we took in lots of souvenir shops and the girls bought their favorite stuffed animals. We were done just in time for the boys to pick us up after the fishing trip. What a full day, the weather was perfect for the zoo and it was not too crowded. A nice girls day!

San Diego Day 2 Part 2

This afternoon we took a drive to Point Loma. It is a beautiful drive and the scenery is gorgeous! We first went to Cabrillo National Monument were we visited an old lighthouse and learned about the explorer Cabrillo. The kids did the Jr. Ranger program and earned their badges. Then we took a short drive down to the tide pools. Unfortunately, the tide was not out so we could not see much wildlife but it was still really pretty. We saw some crabs living in the cliffs and walked along the shore. We love the beach! It was a chilly day today and windy too. We headed back to camp for dinner and then campfire and off to bed again… dreaming about another fun day in San Diego.

San Diego Day 2 Part 1

This morning we just spent time on the bay. The kids played in the water and dug in the sand. We went for long walks and spent time at the playground at Campland. The play structure is huge and all kids in all the ages enjoyed it a lot. Tim took a bike ride alone all the way to Mission Beach and said we will have to try it together when we get time. I have not been on my bike yet as I have been dividing my time between Leah and Lily and keeping an eye on them. We had a nice picnic on the beach for lunch and then we got ready for the rest of our day… more on that to come. Here are some photos of our campsite... the bay is on the right and our RV is the third on the left.

San Diego Day 1

After a 7 hour uneventful and fairly easy drive we arrived in Campland! The weather is beautiful… a warm 85 degrees and our campsite is right on the bay! Noah's words were "this is heaven on earth". And it would be for a kid because within walking distance is a game room, the bay, a pool and tons of places to explore. They were so excited to see their friends and just be shown around the campground. We got unloaded while the kids played and explored. Then I spent some time with the girls at the bay and watched them swim and dig in the sand. Then it was off to the pool for a while to get cleaned up! We headed back to camp to get ready for dinner. Chris and Stan were nice enough to make us yummy hamburgers for dinner. Lilly was attacked by the large great Dane a few spots over and that was a little scary. I had to pull the dog off of her and break up the fight. That was no fun… hopefully they can meet and make up tomorrow. Then it was campfire for a while and then early to bed. The campsites here are close together which makes it noisy at night but the payoff is the view and the close proximity to the water and other activities. Our campsite is right on a big green belt where they offer kickball and other games and they even have a big stage that the girls were dancing on. The excitement of today is over and we will pick up tomorrow with more beach adventures and a visit to Point Loma.

San Diego, Campland... Here come the Bulson's

OK, we are gearing up for another RV trip. This time for fall break we will be going to Campland in San Diego. First time Lola the RV has gone to the beach and she is so excited! OK, maybe it is me that is excited... I do love the beach and I have been begging to take Lola there since we bought her! We are going with friends so our kids will have fun playing with them the whole time! (We got our fill of alone family time in the summer!) We will be there October 10th-15th. I look forward to blogging about this trip and how different it will be from our summer vacation. For now, time to start menu and trip planning. Already printed out the spreadsheet so I am ready!

Rocky Mountain National Park- Day 20- Favorite Things

This morning we leave… there are mixed emotions for all of us. We are excited to get back to our family, friends, home and doggy. We will not miss all of our bug bites but we will miss the family time together in nature and the relaxed way of life. Here is a list of our favorite things:

Tim:

Favorite campsite: Yellowstone

Favorite sight: Bison in campground in Yellowstone, seeing bear in Yellowstone

Favorite activity: Mt. Rushmore at night

Favorite hike: Narrows hike in Zion

Kamisha:

Favorite campsite: Yellowstone- grass, meadows, wildflowers, lake view and wildlife- what could be better?

Favorite sight: Bears in Yellowstone, bison and deer in Yellowstone campsite

Favorite activity: White water rafting, alpine slide, Mt. Rushmore at night

Favorite hike: Navajo loop (Bryce), Jenny Lake (Teton), Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)

Noah:

Favorite campsite: South Dakota- Pool, store and arcade

Favorite site: Bison in our campground at Yellowstone

Favorite activity: Whitewater rafting, horseback riding, alpine slide, Mt. Rushmore at night

Favorite hike: The Narrows in Zion, Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)

Megan:

Favorite campsite: Zion (the river), South Dakota (the pool and store)

Favorite sight: Deer and bear in Yellowstone

Favorite activity: Horseback riding, alpine slide, whitewater rafting

Favorite hike: The Narrows in Zion, Sylvan Lake (South Dakota)

Leah:

Favorite campsite: South Dakota (the pool and playground), Zion (the river)

Favorite sight: The deer in our campsite in Yellowstone

Favorite activity: Alpine slide

Favorite hike: The Narrows in Zion

Most memorable things are: Mommy screaming at deer running toward her at Jenny Lake, car troubles in Jackson, Old Faithful in the rain, Megan's mangled bike and hay coming at us on drive in Wyoming, being in constant awe of God and His creation, countless hours of family time, watching my children in their imaginative play (stuffed animal campfire), priceless memories that will last forever!

That is the end of this blog until our next RV adventure!

Rocky Mountain National Park- Day 19

Our last full day of camping… what shall we do? We decided to go into Estes Park and walk around… it is the town outside of the park and it is set up well for tourists. We spent a couple of hours going through T-shirt shops and Christmas stores, and then we had lunch on the river at a restaurant called Poppy's. It was really tasty. Then it was back to camp. We spent the afternoon playing a new monopoly game, well the kids did, I don't have the patience for that but it kept the kids busy for hours while Tim and I sat around and reflected on our trip and did some packing up and cleaning. Dinner came next then it was back to the amphitheater for our nightly ranger program. Tonight it was about the pine mountain beetle which is destroying a lot of the forests in the west. They made it like a play where the ranger was a beetle telling her story and they played a lot of Beatles songs… the girls got to be beetles and were dancing on the stage. Rocky Mountain has to have the most creative and fun ranger programs; we were so excited for them every night. Then it was off to the RV for bed. We will leave first thing in the morning, done with camping and soon this trip will be a treasured memory…

Rocky Mountain National Park- Day 18

This morning we went for a hike. Tim was anxious to get going so the hike was not planned as well as it should have been which lead to a very long morning. We started from our campsite to the Cub Lake trail. It is a nice trail meandering through meadows with lots of wildflowers. We planned to hike the 2.5 miles and then there would be a shuttle to take us back… but once we go to the lake, there was no shuttle. We also had no map and we were running low on water when we found out from another hiker that we had to go another 3.5 miles! That was hard to swallow but that part was a lot nicer, mostly downhill, and shaded. We saw some nice waterfalls and walked next to the stream. Megan did cry most of the time again because of the forest but she made it. 4 hours later we were back at camp and I have never been so happy to have a drink! We learned some things, Megan and Noah have to bring their own water packs, always take a map, and plan ahead! The rest of the afternoon we just rested and hung around camp with a short jaunt to the visitor's center for the kids to get their Jr. Ranger badges.

After dinner we went to the ranger program and the topic was weasels. It was so creative, they put the weasel on trial to see if he was a guilty predator or not guilty because he is helpful to the environment. It was so cute and the kids loved it! We look so forward to our ranger programs; tomorrow night it is on beetles so we will be there yet again…it is our nightly entertainment!

The most magnificent gift from God came as I was sitting outside at 9 pm looking out from our campsite at the Rocky Mountains. All of a sudden I saw this orange glow come over one of the peaks and within 5 minutes the most bright, large harvest moon I have ever seen appeared. It was so beautiful I can't even describe it. Crowds were gathering in front of our campsite it was so amazing…we had the perfect view. What a great way to end the night!

Rocky Mountain National Park- Day 17

We left South Dakota this morning at 7am on our way to Colorado. The drive was not too bad, one of our shortest at 6 ½ hours but with all of the gas trips, lunch and the dreaded Wal-Mart shopping trip it is more like 8 ½ hours. We arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park and then right into our campground called Moraine Campground. It is nice but hard to compare with South Dakota and Yellowstone before that. We are camping in the Rocky Mountains so we won't complain. We quickly set up camp and then went for a walk around the campground. Shortly into the walk we did see a deer in our campground which was exciting for Leah. This campground has lots of pine trees and wildflowers. We had dinner and then went to the ranger program in the amphitheater right next to our campsite… it was about the alpine tundra. This park has a mountain that is over 14,000 feet high so the environment there is totally different including the wildlife and vegetation. It was interesting to hear how different it is. I don't think we will make it up to the tundra, they are doing construction on the road and the drive is 1 ½ hours at least and Tim is so done driving! So, even though we won't make it up there, at least we got to see the photos. After the program it was off to bed, a long day…

South Dakota- Day 16

Day 16… I feel like we have been gone FOREVER but I realize we are nearing the end of our camping leg. I could do another 16 days, easily… this is the life but I suppose vacations have to come to an end at some point. This was our last day in South Dakota and it was relaxing as well. We went this morning to a lake in Custer State Park called Sylvan Lake. It is a beautiful lake with lots of pine trees, and big huge rocks to climb on. We took a trail that went around the lake, most of it was easy but there were times when you had to climb through huge boulders. The kids loved it. After the hike we rented a paddle boat to take around the lake. The lake had a lot of people there, you could tell it is popular and people were pulling fish out of it left and right… Noah was wishing he had his fishing pole. I really love the Black Hills, there are so many trees on the mountains that they look black, hence the name Black Hills. The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool and then relaxing a bit and packing up for the next leg. Tomorrow we leave early for our last camping spot, Rocky Mountain National Park where we will be for 4 days.

South Dakota- Day 15

Today we did a whole lot of nothin'. We slept in (becoming a daily occurrence), took walks, rode bikes, swam in the pool, played at the playground, and played games. It was a nice day of rest and relaxation for us and definitely needed. This campsite is a lot of fun… as we were sitting around the campfire in the early evening we heard a huge group of kids playing "Red Rover"… it seems like a lot of big family groups come here. We met some people at the pool who have come here every summer for 17 years. Here are some photos of our place here at J Bar Ranch Mountain Resort in South Dakota.

South Dakota- Day 14

Today we headed to Wind Cave National Park… we had to get a cave in for Noah. We took a scenic drive through Custer State Park on a highway called Needles Highway. It was very long, windy, narrow and had several tunnels that were quite narrow. The scenery was beautiful as we meandered through the Black Hills and forest areas. We saw a large heard of bison that clogged up the traffic for a while. We also saw prairie dogs, deer and pronghorn. When you get to Wind Cave it changes to prairies with tons of grasses and wildflowers. We finally made it there after 1 ½ hours and scheduled our cave tour. We did the Natural Entrance tour that had 300 steps and was about 1 mile long. The cave is the 4^th longest in the world at over 134 miles of caves. So, in we go to the cave with our Ranger Wendell who was quite the character, he is a school teacher so he talked nonstop, giving us lots of information. This cave was not fun to me. Within 5 minutes of entering, a few people decided it was not for them and asked to leave. Megan and I were close to doing that too. Especially as you stand in a cave, in a line with 20 other people, in a narrow, dark cave tunnel. But we made it through, Megan did cry a lot and I wanted to as well but we made a pinkie promise half way through that the 2 of us would never step foot in a cave again. I just have a fear that the cave is going to "cave" in. Most of this cave was just very narrow and we had to duck a lot just to get through. At one point he turned off the lights and we got to experience total darkness; that was neat. Then we were done and spent time exploring the exhibits so the kids could do their Jr. Ranger program. They were sworn in by Wendell and then off we went back to camp, which was only 30 minutes not taking the scenic route.

The best part of this leg of the trip and possibly the entire trip was the lighting ceremony we did at Mt. Rushmore tonight. At 8:30pm the Ranger did a stump the ranger program where anyone could ask him questions about presidents. He knew all of the answers and more! It was so much fun, we laughed so hard, and he was quite the comedian. The setting was great, the amphitheater is in front of the monument and it is huge. We started with the pledge of allegiance. They then showed a movie that focused on all 4 of the presidents on the monument in great detail… it was so inspiring. I cried the entire time they spoke about Lincoln, he is my favorite! After that we sang the national anthem and during that they turned on the lights on Mt. Rushmore; it is so beautiful at night. They then honored veterans by having them come on the stage as we clapped for them and then they retired the flag. What a patriotic night! It just made us all feel so patriotic and proud to be an American… we all loved it so much! On our drive home we saw a couple of mountain goats too. It was a great night!

South Dakota- Day 13

This morning we slept in, we were up until midnight doing laundry and setting up camp. We took a morning walk around the campground to get our bearings. This place is huge! It is a lot like a hotel but with camp sites instead of the hotel. It had the registration desk, arcade, gift shop, huge pool, and very nice playground. The kids are just loving it… there are families everywhere and so much to do here. But first things first… Mt. Rushmore. After lunch we headed there, only 10 minutes from camp. It is so neat when you see it for the first time; it is farther away than you think it is. We parked and made our way up to the main terrace and walked around. It was much more commercial than I imagined, everyone was walking around eating ice cream and it was packed! We headed to the visitors center and watched a movie on the history of Mt. Rushmore which was very interesting. I thought it was fascinating that 90% of it was carved using dynamite! We did a trail that lead near the mountain and then it was done! It does not take long to see it but it is awe inspiring. Bortrum, the sculptor, had such a vision and a dream to make these sculptors grand, as grand as America is and the presidents he chose to sculpt. We plan on going another night for the lighting ceremony… can't wait for that.

After we got back the kids wanted to hit the pool. So we did. Wow, it was packed… you could tell I am from Arizona because I am on the lounge chair with my jacket and towel around my legs drinking hot cocoa while all of the other parents were in their swim suits… it was cold, only mid 70's and cloudy. But the pool was heated so the kids had a blast. Then it was time for dinner, showers and wind down time. While making dinner I had a minor breakdown… I hit my head twice on an upper cabinet in the RV trying to get the plastic silverware out of the storage area. I was just done after that and had a good cry on the floor while totally freaking out my family. I don't know what it was… frustration of a tight space, tired, I just finished a book which always makes me emotional, I don't know. It really did hurt though so maybe it was just that. But ever since then the kids have been extra nice and protective of me… they said they had never seen me cry (really?) so they were sweet about it and ultra-concerned. But I am fine; a good cry always makes you feel better, right? I think it will be early bed tonight to gear up for a busy day tomorrow!

Yellowstone Day 8- More Geyser Photos

Here are some photos of more geysers by Old Faithful on our first day at Yellowstone.

Yellowstone Day 10- Bear Photos

Here are some photos of our friends the grizzlies!