Life of Larisa or LOL

Five. Not much if you think in terms of minutes, or days, or dollars. But, in years, well, it's a big deal for this mom. Five! That means kindergarten, halfway to ten, and great responsibilities---like figuring out how to tie those shoelaces! Or put together a tent in the case of our new five year old. This year, we celebrated one son becoming a teenager by camping out with centipedes (see other blogpost: Camping at Waimanalo Bay) and the other son exiting preschool age...with, yep, camping! Apparently milestones in our house are rewarded with sleeping in a tent, smelling of campfire, and roasting marshmallows. Or "campfire brownies" in Zach's case this past weekend. Last month when we celebrated my older son Gabe at Waimanalo campgrounds, Zach decided there was no other way to celebrate than to camp out too. We secured a spot at our usual camp grounds---Friends of Malaekahana. http://www.malaekahana.net Here's what you need to celebrate your next milestone in st...

We went camping for our newly turned 13 year olds birthday. This is the way to celebrate becoming a teenager! Sunny skies, big waves, and no showering! S'mores, piñata, and chopping wood...all of our oldest child's favorite things.  Our usual camping spot is on the North Shore at Malaekahana. We have been reserving spots, pitching our tent, and chasing chickens there since Gabe was six years old. The only thing that ever changed was the area within the campgrounds, the month we camped, and the addition of our youngest camper, Zach, in the past couple of years.  This time around we changed everything , starting with the campgrounds. We somehow scored the last spot at Waimanalo Bay through the City and County via their website. By we, I mean my husband Isom. I'll start with the positives... Location:   The view from our tent, gorgeous. Seriously, million dollar view. Looking left, the blue waters next to Bellows Air Force Base. In one sweeping gaze you can see the Mokuluas ...

Another camp out complete. And here is the end result. We can barely pose for a finale picture... The exhaustion was warranted. We built campfires. The kids hunted for crabs on the beach at night and destroyed other peoples sand creations by day. We ate canned meat. And sweets. And wore fluorescent swim gear.  Dipped toes in sand. Morning walks in wet sand. Turned sandy pages and drank Malibu and pineapple. Dodged flying ladder balls and sand snowballs.  Hid behind tents. Had fits. Lost brushes. Discovered chicken eggs, a stray dog, chased hens from the yard. Rain ruined multiple rolls of toilet paper and a deck of Duck Dynasty cards. Built human pyramids. Drank beer. Photo bombed each other. Photo boothed with one another. Don't you wish you'd been here?  Made it home after no showers and sleeping on the ground. Dirty. Happy. And safe and sound.