Oceano/Pismo Beach

  Our next stop was the gorgeous California Pismo Beach Region.  We stayed at Pacific Dunes Ranch RV Resort - it was truly an amazing place to live for two weeks!  It was steps away from the Oceano sand dune area, which is known as the finest, most extensive coastal dunes remaining in California.  Spectacular, breathtaking, other-worldly, majestic, sandy...Those are just some of the words we used to describe the dunes.  We climbed over them, we slid down them, we played on them, we watched the sunset from them!

The boys made friends with two other boys during our time at Pismo Beach (Eric and Avery), which made the time even more special.  In our two weeks at Pismo, we explored the surrounding area, ate some amazing treats, fished, played on the sand dunes morning, noon and night, drove our Jeep on the beach and found one of our favorite skate parks yet!  We made some quality memories! During our time here, we also had our annual home school review and passed with flying colors! This was one of our favorite places in California!   

Bryan and Bodie made it to the top of that massive sand dune!  

The view of the dunes from the campsite

Our Pismo "home away from home"...Steps away from the laundry room :-)

Our RV...This way!

Vast sandy - ness!

Do you see Bodie exploring the sand dunes?

Our view of the campground from the beginning of the dune area

The four boys boogie boarding down the dunes!  Pure happiness!

Great exercise, too!

Braden, Aaron & Avery...Eric was already on the way back up the dune!

W-O-W

Pictures don't even begin to do it justice!

The dunes went on and on...all the way to the Pacific!

We loved our time on the dunes!

We prepared for, participated in and passed our annual homeschool review while in Pismo Beach!  Throughout the year, we document what we learn, how we learn, and we collect samples of our work/projects/pictures/accomplishments.  We were proud and excited to share what the boys' 6th and 7th grade school year looked like!  Here are a few of Aaron's proud accomplishments from the year.

Braden's certificates and achievements from his 7th grade year.

My handy dandy lesson plan book from 2014-2015...It keeps us on track!

A new experience!  We love ice cream and went in search of a treat one night!  We ended up here..They advertised a delicious Mexican Ice Cream!  Check out that selection!

The Rock & Roll Diner was just down the street from the campground!  It was soooooo good....and the atmosphere was fun and funky!

Check out the cool interior of the restaurant!

  

This cinnamon bun came highly recommended!  We finished the whole thing in record time...

A close up...I can almost taste it!

Loved that you could drive your car/Jeep/truck/RV on the beach.  They also rented four wheelers and dune buggies for your beach cruising pleasure!

Bryan cruising on the beach in style!

Where you might live if you lived in/near Pismo Beach!

We went for a Sunday drive and stopped at Moonstone Beach in Cambria!  One of the best beaches for finding shiny treasures!

Don't mistake these guys for the shiny stones...They will sting you!

Walking the beach searching for treasures is one of our favorite things to do as a family! 

Cambria Seals

Braden found a crab that wasn't feeling so well.

When they were wet, the stones looked polished and gorgeous!

Some of our loot!  We left plenty for others!

Our favorite skate park was in San Lois Obispo  (Or SLO as the locals call it!)  Everyone who skated there was kind and friendly...The boys got lots of tips from fellow skateboarders and they learned a lot!  I even met a young mom from Rock Hall!  We visited multiple times (that's why there are so many pics!!!)...

This was a bit challenging...

We celebrated Earth Day (and earned a FTF Explorer badge) by saving all of our trash that could be recycled for an entire week and we made "art" with the materials!

I can almost see their wheels turning!  Creative minds at work!

The finished Earth Day 2015 project!

Just a few more skating pics from our last trip to SLO!

They were feeling so much more comfortable on their boards by the end of our time there!  So proud of my boys!

Check out that new trick!

Really moving!

We also went to the movies during our stay!  Braden made a rare appearance (he isn't usually a fan of the movie theater!)  We saw Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 - we were so excited to see it - and we had the theater almost all to ourselves!!! We really enjoyed our time at Pismo Beach - It was a great place to explore and a great place to use as a home base while we explored the surrounding area!!!