Famping at Ocean City

Although Ron and I both love camping, we have not gone the past two summers due to moving one summer and having a newborn the next. As a result, I made it a priority to schedule in a camping trip this summer since Lia has reached such an easy and fun stage! I had really wanted to camp on the ocean, so I found a state park online in Ocean City that looked decent and made a reservation several weeks ago. So, it was complete luck and coincidence that this trip fell in the middle of one of the worst heat waves I can ever recall in WA as the coast is always 20-30 degrees cooler. What a relief it was to see 65 degrees on a sign as we pulled into town. With the exception of some usual drama that always happens when camping in a large campground (drunken brawl in the middle of the night, loud neighbors dropping the F-bomb every other word, and idiots across the way burning their broken stereo in the fire), we truly enjoyed our 2-night/3-day stay in Ocean City and just loved being together again as Ron has been so unavailable this summer. He was able to join us this weekend due to a lull in his studies and coined a new word in the process: Famping. Short for family camping! Can't wait to go famping again!

Ron had the brilliant, last-minute idea to bring our beach cruisers along. I'm so glad we did as we had so much fun going on several bike rides and cruising all over the place. Lia couldn't get enough and kept on saying, "Bie," (short for "bike") every other minute throughout our time there.

The Master-Dutch-Oven-Chef and his assistant working on our dinner the first night there. There is one thing that Ron and I do well while camping and that is eating! We take pride in making delicious and elaborate meals while "roughing" it. We have learned that we prefer to do all of our cooking in dutch ovens (I gave one oven to Ron for our 1st Anniversary and another for our 2nd Anniversary) and love finding recipes online to try out!


Dinner: Chicken and Potato Delight. The finished dish in the dutch oven on the left (with peas, green beans, and broccoli from our garden) and plated (with grated cheese) on the right--complete with fresh zucchini bread I baked that morning with zucchini from our garden.


Dessert: Scrumptious peach cobbler. Warm and ready to go in the oven on the left and the plated dessert complete with cool whip on top (yes, I packed that in the cooler. Garnishes are serious business for me). It tasted so divine.

We made a few trips to the beach which was about a 5-minute bike ride/walk from our campsite. Here Lia and I are walking down the path through the dunes to get to the ocean.

Ron'a turn! Lia happily sitting on her "papa perch" on the way to the beach.

Lia and her new found summer past time. She just can't get enough of that sand!

The fam bundled for winter in the middle of the summer! Being a So. California native, Ron never believed me when I told him that WA ocean beaches are not swimming beaches...even in the middle of the summer! I think he finally gets it now.

One of the many "horse trains" we saw on the beach.

Daddy daughter play-time. I just love this picture.

I wasn't sure how she would do, but Lia actually did a fabulous job taking her naps and sleeping through the night in her pack-and-play in our tent. I can't say enough about how grateful I am for this good, little sleeper! Here is my cute bug after waking up from her afternoon nap.

We left our campground one time during our weekend to venture into Ocean Shores for a seafood lunch on Saturday. At the restaurant, Lia discovered the art of biting her spoon while swinging her head back and forth and making funny noises. She has never done this before. We found it quite entertaining!

Famping.