"Pa-Peen!" Part 2

Our camping destination was Butano State Park, which is near the small town of Pescadero, about an hour down the coast. It was a gorgeous campsite, tucked away in the redwoods but only miles from the ocean. We knew camping with two little ones would be a lot of work, but we hoped that Trenton's sheer joy would make it worthwhile. It definitely did. Just don't ask when our next trip is scheduled... :) Give us a day or two to regroup!

Really roughing it, obviously. :)

Possibly my favorite part of the mini-trip was our visit to a you-pick berry farm, Phipps Farm. We picked olallieberries, which are apparently a cross between a blackberry and a loganberry. I think I've found a new hobby—visiting you-pick farms all summer long!

Phipps Farm was authentic - no showy touristy stuff here. But that was part of its charm. Trenton loved looking at all the animals, from goats to chickens to peacocks to guinea pigs.

As for the berry picking...After a few minutes of eating as many blackberries as possible, he had had his fill and seemed to be more open to learning how to pick the dark ones. He walked around the whole time exclaiming either "Good! Good!" or "Dark! Dark!"

"Good!"

Guilty. We told them to round up when we paid for our blackberries. :)

By the end, he was a little professional.

Back at the campsite, we cooked tin foil dinners and roasted marshmellows for shmores. After a failed attempt at putting Trenton to sleep in the tent, which resulted in him poking his head through the door shouting "Hi! Hi!" until we caved, we let him stay up until he fell asleep in my arms watching the fire.

Both boys slept well. It was funny to hear Trenton sleep talk a couple of times, and Chase only woke once for a feeding. (Thank goodness for our JetBoil! That thing warms up water for bottles faster than the microwave!) It rained/misted throughout the night, which sounded beautiful at the time but made packing up a bit more tricky in the morning. :)

All in all, it went smoother than we had hoped with two tikes under age 2. Next time we'll just have to have some friends come along!