SHREDDING, NATURALLY.

With one of my littler dudes puking all through the night this past weekend, Cooper and I took a "big dude day out" down to Cardiff, to get out of the house and check out the 4th Annual CAMP SHRED. This ain't your run of the mill beach camp. Camp Shred reigns as the "World's Largest Surf Demo", and takes place at San Elijo Campground.  We've got a proper camping reservation there later this summer, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to vibe the place out, while checkin out some cool surf gear. 

We arrived just in time to grab a Banzai Bowl (they've got a shop in San Clemente, too) and throw down a towel to check out a live music set from Montalban Quintet. We were bummed to have missed Teenage Burritos (best band name, ever?) the day before, but the vibes were appropriately mellow and introspective with the Quintet playing on the bluff directly over the waves breaking below. 

After the set we wandered around the demo displays checking out some of our favorite stuff. Saw some rad new soft top surfboards with checkered bottoms from Catch Surf, some big ol' fins from Captain Fin, and grabbed some of our favorite sun blockin' Sun Bum sunscreen. I gotta admit, we were also looking to play some games and win some stuff! Every other booth had a cornhole game set up waiting to be played, so Coop and I had a traveling tournament through the campground. Coop also scored a hat from Spy Optics on his first throw, sinking a ball in a bucket. "BOOM," he said, "first try."

We hit the beach to do some bodysurfing, and then made our way back up to the snack bar for a shaved ice before hitting the road homeward. Made a note for myself that they have a Bull Taco built into the snack bar, which may come in handy when we're camping there and I've had my fill of veggie dogs. The snack bar's patio has the perfect view of the beach, so we ate our sugary ice, watched some pelicans and decided to hit Pizza Port in Carlsbad on the way home for a "proper" lunch and some video games. 

Big dude day out, definitely a success. Hoping we'll make it down next year for the 5th Camp Shred a little earlier, so we can jump on some of those Catch Surf boards.

On our way to the car, we decided to start off a new photo series... "Cooper takes pictures with cool VW Buses that we wish were ours". 

Here's number one... 

 Thanks to Surfing Magazine for helping put together CAMP SHRED, and for everybody being so dang cool. Til next year!

BEST HAIR DAY EVER

Earlier this summer, our radical friends over at Tangled Tantrum sent over a few of their hair products for the little dudes to try out.  Off the bat we were sold on the product packaging... The detangler & conditioning spray has a dude hanging on a rocket ship headin off to space, while the hair gel and styling paste are sporting surf and skate scenes.  Both of my little dudes were open to using the stuff this summer because 1) they all smell amazing (especially the styling paste!) and 2) they all go on real easy and don't sting or get weird (alcohol free) and 3) the packaging.. I mean, right?  4) these products are HIS, so we don't have to use the weird stuff that mom & dad use cuz they've got their OWN! They became the go-to after long afternoons at the beach or pool, so we could get everyone's hair back into order. Basically, we love the stuff. 

But I've gotta say, the true amazingness revealed itself as summer turned to school time.  Cooper wakes up with one of the craziest heads of bed head hair I have ever seen,  on the regular. It feels like every new day outdoes the last day, however that is possible. Through pre-school, it was my job to drop him off, so his hair was literally the last thing I'd be worrying about. Gotta get breakfast, get dressed, brush our teeth, get all of our stuff in the car and try to get out the door at a semi-reasonable time. Now, Coop has entered the ranks of kindergarten, and I feel like we can't really play the same "we just rolled outta bed" vibe.  Enter, Tangled Tantrum detangler & conditioning spray + styling paste. 

Below is just one of our magical transformations. A few sprays of detangler make a world of difference... then we throw on a few dabs of styling paste, and we've got a good lookin, great smellin dude! 

before & after

In addition to all this, Tangled Tantrum products are paraben free. That was something that wasn't on my radar at all, but now knowing more about it, I'm stoked that the dudes are using paraben-free products. Paraben is basically a preservative used in a handful of products which we commonly use. They can mess up a handful of your body's natural processes such as digestion, metabolism, puberty, reproduction, and more! Yikes, right? 

Thanks Tangled Tantrum!! We're hooked!

you can check out TANGLED TANTRUM here, and learn more about their radical paraben-free products! 

CAMPING IN THE BACKYARD (KINDA)

we just finished up with our first official camping outing of the summer season at San Clemente State Beach.  it was our second time down to this spot this year so far, and we still love it! since we live in San Clemente, it's a 10 minute drive, but sleeping a few hundred yards from the ocean never gets old. The normal campsites fit up to 3 cars and a couple of moderately big tents! They've got the usual picnic table with shade, a bbq and a fire pit. They have normal bathrooms and showers available too. This outing was just a one night stay, which seemed like a lotta work for a little bit of camping, but we tried to keep packing simple and the fun maximized.  

For my own good, and maybe yours too, I'm gonna be compiling a running list of MUST HAVES for camping with the little ones. So, here are a handful of things that worked well for us on this trip.

FOOD

for the night we arrived, we decided to keep it easy and stick w/ hot dogs for everyone. The kids are halfway vegetarian, so they mixed it up with some turkey dogs and some veggie dogs. my favorite veggie dogs are by MorningStar Farms. They taste pretty awesome, and cook great on the grill! we also brought potato chips, chips and salsa, watermelon and carrots. simple food that is easy to prepare! 

The next morning we planned on keeping it super easy with a box of donuts and some juice, but unfortunately I grabbed the wrong bag to store overnight and raccoons had a late night donut feast. oops. good thing we had a whole grip of yogurts/gogurts! 

and of course... 

S'MORES. Always and forever. 

SLEEP & LODGING

Coleman Instant Tent- I recently upgraded to one of the Coleman Instant Tents, which has been a lifesaver. it's nice to not waste a ton of time setting up your tent, cuz you'd rather be playing bocce ball or doing something cool, right? they claim it's up (and down) in 10 minutes, and I usually come in under 7 minutes! just sayin. 

Poler Napsack- Coop and I both sleep in these things and they're rad. In the colder months, you can throw this thing on when you start to huddle around the fire because you can wear it like a jacket by just cinching up the bottom, and puttin' your arms out the holes. then when you call it a night, put your arms + legs inside, close it up and get to sleep! 

OTHER STUFF

Flashlights/Lanterns/Batteries - might be an obvious one, but I always have enough flashlights for the whole fam, plus one lantern that stays in the tent, as well as a few extra batteries laying around. Coop and Charley are fans of telling spooky stories around the campfire (just not ones about zombies). Plus it's nice to find your way to the bathroom at night without bumping into anything (like zombies.. jk). 

Surf Brush- this thing is not just a camping must, it's an everyday thing for me. I have it in my car ALWAYS. It's a big soft bristled brush that will easily brush the sand off of the pickiest of kids. both Charley and Cooper love to use it post-beach sessions, and it was magical to have around the camp site (kinda like a broom!). highly recommended. 

Outdoor Games- Last time I brought horseshoes, which was shortlived. This time I brought a bocce ball set, which the kids seemed to dig. I've been meaning to build a WASHERS game and/or a CORNHOLE/Beanbag game, so we'll try those out on the next trip. 

Sunscreen - another obvious one, yeah? the whole fam digs this SUN BUM stuff. smells like tropical amazingness and goes on easy. 

GLOWSTICKS - these are ALWAYS a hit with the little dudes. break 'em out right when it starts to get dark, and they play with 'em until they fall right to sleep. The 99 Cent stores usually have these, and Michael's always has a great deal on them too. 

FRIENDS - I mean, right? Cooper and Charley's buds Anthony and Ben accompanied us on this trip. Along with their awesome parents. 

Coop's Backpack- I picked up a backpack for Coop to fill up with HIS camping stuff. Inside we've got: Binoculars, a notebook (for drawing and keeping a list of animals we see!), bandaids (cool ones, no plain boring ones), a flashlight, a hat, waterbottle, snacks, and a jacket. 

lastly, I was happy to remember to put batteries in my portable speaker set, so I could play a little music as the night went on. I'll be putting together a little mix of some of my favorite go-to camping tunes... COMING THIS WEEKEND!

Thanks for reading! oh, and check out the radical "HAPPY CAMPERS" sign Carolyn made to brighten up our spot up there!

here are the kids bouncing around the beds. photo by @crusso ! 

HAPPY CAMPERS

Sure enough, we've come upon the time of the year when you have to start booking summer camping spots!  head over to reserveamerica.com to find camping spots nearby, or a good place to take a roadtrip. the site starts booking sites 6 months in advance, and certain spots are tougher to reserve than others. this summer we're aiming to get at least one trip to a beach camping site, and one up to some mountains, and hopefully another trip or two will fall into place as well. 

Although we have a ways to go before we head out on our camping adventures, I wanna feature some of my favorite camping gear to bring out with the dudes. A while ago I came across the brand POLER at the Agenda tradeshow up in Long Beach, CA. They're an outdoors brand, with an emphasis on having a good time and enjoying this amazing world we live in. CAMP VIBES! They make a great range of products from basic soft goods (tees / hoodies / hats / beanies), to cool bags, to some awesome camping gear... which brings me to my favorite thing they make, THE NAPSACK. The Napsack is a hybrid sleeping bag and puffy jacket. It has arm holes, and an open bottom that can be cinched up around your knees. It also has a few pockets, and a hood! Cooper really digs jumpin into his to keep warm when the sun goes down, and then it makes the perfect transition into bedtime.

Poler makes a kids version which fits 3' to 4'6 tall, and they also make a version for adults (I have a matching Napsack, of course)! 

We were able to take our Napsacks on a few trips last summer, and they rule. As I said, it's a great way to transition into bedtime, but it's also a great way to start the day when it's just a bit too cold to get out of your sleeping bag. This way, you can cinch up the bottom around knee-high, throw on some shoes and get breakfast started. 

I love keepin the CAMP VIBES goin at home by wearing by Napsack around the house. It's nice when i'm up late working and end up passing out on the couch... I'm already wearing my sleeping bag!  

Poler also makes a handful of good stuff that will make it on our camping checklist... headlamps, tents, and heat bags.  

Any place you dig camping? LEMME KNOW!