This past weekend we packed up the truck and headed to the beach—for the kiddo's very first overnight camping trip!

I brought some crocheting along, of course, as well as my current read, but I didn't end up crocheting one single stitch! Or reading much, either. Which surprised me. But, I guess we actually stayed pretty busy.

We got checked into our campsite about three in the afternoon, set up the tent, drove around the area a bit (we went to Bellows Beach up on the Air Force Base) and then went to get some dinner at Carson's favorite restaurant, Round Table Pizza, where they also have arcade games. So that was fun!

When we got back to camp we putzed around a bit, made sure the sleeping mats and bags and blankets were all set up (not that we needed the blankets! I was sticky all night long) and then we walked down to the beach for a while.

I brought my recently finished shawl using Gossamer with me and took a few pictures. Just LOOK how perfectly it matches the ocean here!

Isn't Meg amazing!? (There are still a few skeins of Gossamer left, last I checked, if you haven't snagged any yet!)

And don't forget that the pattern preview (basic written instructions only) is available for Patreon members! You can get access to this one as well as another unpublished pattern that I shared just a few days ago for as little as $2 a month. (Get a peek of it here.)

The Gossamer shawl was actually a nice little layer to have to wrap around my shoulders as the sun started to set and that wind off the water started to feel a tad chilly.

If I were to do it over again, I might add on a third skein, but I decided I'm definitely going to be adding some beachy tassels to it, so stay tuned for that!

On our way back up the hill to our tent, we saw not one, not two, but THREE wild peacocks strolling along!

Oh how I wish I had had my big camera! But I got a couple okay ones with my phone.

They're just so... magnificent! Fancy looking birds, ha ha. It was pretty awesome.

We saw another one earlier in the day, driving to dinner, I think it was, on the other side of the fence, but it was just in passing so we didn't get a good look. Getting to walk alongside these three for several hundred yards was definitely a highlight of the trip. Maybe of the year!

Smores were in order when we got back to camp, of course, which is always Carson's favorite thing to do, and then we just chilled for a little while.

After it got dark, we traipsed back down to the beach to hunt for crabs (just for fun) and Carson was delighted by all the little crabs popping white in the light of his headlamp as they scurried across the sand and dipped back into their holes. We didn't see any that were very big, but there were hundreds of them out. It was pretty cool.

Carson was especially tickled that he was able to touch a couple of them. He wouldn't try to pick them up (we brought a small bucket) because he was afraid of their pinchers, even with gloves on, which suited me just fine because I wasn't keen on un-homing them anyway. I was happy just walking along the beach watching them. And hoping we didn't step on any... They really were everywhere!

It was a fun evening, though. And even though it rained a bit during the night, and there were teeny-bopper girls squealing and screaming late into the night, we stayed dry and got a little bit of sleep.

Morning came gently and we were all up by around seven, ready for some breakfast (leftover pizza!) and another little walkabout.

The plumeria trees were beautiful along the roadside AND they were short enough for me to actually get a close up look and pictures of the flowers!

It was a hazy, cloudy morning and Carson decided he didn't really want to go play at the beach, so we went ahead and packed up. We did play a round of mini golf before we left, though! That was another first for the kid. He got a little aggressive whacking that ball around a couple times, but he got a hole in one on the 18th hole! Right into a volcano, of course.

We made lots of fun memories for his first overnight camping trip! I think we'll be doing it again.

And maybe next time I'll actually do some crocheting??

Cheers!

-Connie

P.S. Chicken chronicles update: you know, I haven't seen one single baby chicken in our backyard since the last time I wrote to you! I wonder where they all wandered off to... In other news, there are a lot of chickens running around with short tail feathers. I guess it's molting season? Harold has been strutting around for several days now with just ONE long tail feather left. It hasn't dampened his enthusiasm, though!