D woke up early in the morning, even before the birds. Uncle K was kind enough to make us breakfast…potatoes o’brien and a breakfast casserole cooked in my mom’s dutch oven.

The breakfast casserole in all of its glory. There were lovely crunchy bits on the edges thanks to the dutch oven. Yum!

The potatoes. Needless to say, k was quite happy with this meal.

Once we packed up we headed out to Zuma Beach. It was a lovely day. D was impressed by the very smooth sand on the beach. He also took a swim in the chilly water. k seems to have an aversion to sand in her toes and going in the water, however.

We left before noon to get to Malibu Seafood, on PCH, before the crowds. We still had to pay $3 for parking. This picture was taken on our way out…as you can see, it is popular. D had fish and chips and I had a fried shrimp sandwich. k ate so many snacks on the beach she wasn’t really hungry. You can see the Pacific from the outside seating. They also had clean bathrooms, always a plus.

Finally, it was time to go home. We were all pretty tired by this point. We headed south on PCH, and Malibu was “bumpin'”, according to D. Tons of people out and about. We made pretty good time and arrived at home at 1:30 p.m.

When we got back to the campsite, it was dinnertime.

We roasted hot dogs in a blanket.

Made smores with homemade marshmallows. Note the large marshmallow to chocolate/graham cracker ratio.

The park rangers told us about a campfire program they had from 8-9 p.m. about astronomy, so we decided to check it out. There was a presentation by “Spacy Tracey”, who was quite the character. She had planet pants, as well as star-shaped glasses and earrings. There were a lot of kids in the audience who were very eager to share all of their astronomy-related knowledge. k, on the other hand, wasn’t too interested and seemed hyper–maybe from the smores? We left around 8:45, before S.T. had a chance to point out the constellations. I made sure k saw the stars when we returned to the campsite, though, since we don’t see to many back at home.

It didn’t take k too long to fall asleep, although by that time, it was way past her bedtime. For some reason, she likes to sleep at our feet, right up against the wall of the tent. She didn’t wake up until morning!

We will be camping in the near future. This is going to be a momentous event for two reasons. First, it will be the first time D+L+k will be camping together. Secondly, it is the start of the Lim family tradition.

Last Sunday, in our Sunday school class, our teacher told us that families should have traditions that they do on a regular basis. These traditions help families become close knit. So we decided camping/hiking will be our family tradition. I pretend to be rugged, but my camping skills are limited to setting up a tent. So I will be relying on my brother-in-law to do all the cooking. Basically the pressure is on him to make the tradition start on the right foot.

The Lim Family will be one with nature!