Saturday, June 14, 2008

Mom and Dad's 50th

WARNING: Long post ahead.

We had a great few days this week at Camp Pendleton (Oceanside, CA) with my parents, who are celebrating the Big 5-0 this month.  Mom and Dad would much rather spend some time with their kids than have a big formal party or reception in their honor, so instead, my brother arranged for all of us to go "camping" (I use that term lightly) together instead.  My brother and his family were camping on the beach.  The rest of us had a couple of nice modern cabins to stay in, complete with showers, stovetops, and refrigerators.  That's the kind of camping I like.   Anyway, the U.S. Marine base has this campground for servicemen and their families (my brother is a Coastie), and it really is a nice facility.

We had cool, cloudy weather for a couple of days, which was a beautiful change from the desert sun, and then our last day the sun came out and brightened everything up, including our noses, cheeks, and the tips of our ears. Solarcaine and aloe vera to the rescue!

The rocky area was great fun!  We saw crabs (LOTS of crabs) sea slugs, hermit crabs, mussels, clams, one lonely sea anemone, and lots of lobster parts. Sadly, this mother threw away the collected specimens of dismembered sea creatures before the family drove the seven hours back to the desert, and the children were very disappointed.




























Amazingly, we unearthed these little boys while we were walking along the beach!  They very happy to be freed from their sandy graves:










Cousin Nate

Counsin Drew


Why is it that everyone else's family has all the fun toys? (Have you ever heard that one before?)  The family in the tent next to my brother had Stomp Rockets, and some sort of balloon-shooting type thing, and also a game where two golf balls are tied together and thrown over a horizontal bar (the target). Those were a big hit! We also played badminton, touch football, bocce, and played in the sand (even got Grammy to play in the sand) .


























Monday night we had a little celebration in honor of my parents, and we three siblings and our families presented them with a photobook that I made with Picaboo. That was a great deal -- I found an online coupon code for 50% off the first order!  Yay!!  The photobook started with Mom and Dad's wedding and traced our family up to the present.  It has huge holes of time in it, but it was fun to do, and a neat keepsake. Here's a sample:















So that was fun.  The next night we had a talent show with poetry, music, singing, and lots of silliness, and the cousins presented their grandparents with a cute cookbook with recipes they invented, and illustrations.















And there were more good times...

























Smores, of course!
A new friend, a fellow homeschooler!
My SIL, Erin, and nephew, Victor.
On this particular morning my brother stepped on a sting ray -- that ended the surfing!
Dad (I love you, Dad) Mom (Love you too, Mom)
My brother, Todd (I love you, too.) My younger brother, Andy, and his girlfriend, Heather. (I love you, too, Andy!)

Our daytime crew. (Andy only joined us for an evening or two.)


I have only two three regrets. One, we don't live by the ocean!  And two, it's so FAR away!!  And number three, Andy's girls weren't able to join us.  A great time was had by all.  Even with the sting ray injury.  Thank you for staying with me this long.  I promise the next entry won't be so long.











9 comments:

  1. Great pictures. Glad you had a good time!


    Kristy

    P.S. Did the new SS material come in yet? I just realized I need to make up my own lesson for tomorrow. No problem, I have tons of stuff to work with.

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  2. Oh what fun. Our son has been begging for us to take him to the ocean. We are like 18 hours away or something like that. That is something we want to do someday. Have a great weekend.

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  3. I'm right with you on the ocean - ony a 2 hr. flight from a Florida beach - now just to find something more secluded. How about St. John's off the virgin islands? Great photos!!! It looks like everyone had fun. You know our girls would love to play on the beach with your girls. Too bad about your brother's foot. At least he just stepped on it and it didn't attack him - lots of strange stories lately about those sting rays.

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  4. Opps - that last one was from Bookworm's Mother!


    Jane

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  5. What a wonderful trip!


    I was born in Oceanside, and my (estranged) father still lives in Vista. I know that beach well, as we used to visit it frequently when we lived in San Diego.

    It is such a beautiful area!


    I'm glad you had such a nice vacation, and it's always special to spend time with family...especially for such a special occasion.


    Blessings,

    Michelle

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  6. yall look like you had fun! I love the beach!

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  7. ...it looks like you all had! Those memories will be sewn into your lives, and what a blessing that is.


    I was sorry to hear that humble pie was on the menu for last night. When you wrote that you let your husband take it for you, my immediate thought was "Oh No!!" Boy, that stinks. In honor of what you went through last night on behalf of all wives, I'm *not* going to let my husband take it for me, LOL!! We'll let your sacrafice stand for all, LOL!


    Have a lovely weekend, and thanks for joining in! Thanks for being such a lovely visitor this week, as well!


    God Bless,

    Shani

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  8. I had to laugh at your comment - yes! Their portion is easier! And much more - ummmm.... how to put it without sounding judgmental or 'modern,' because I am so *not* - but their test is much more 'male chauvinistic!' I told my husband about the test, and how I hit 'yes!' with relish whenever he scored 'badly' on a question, such as 'talks over you when you correct the children,' or some such thing that he may do. He pointed out that in those days, those kinds of things were encouraged in men, and that men were admired for acting like that. Sheesh. I lost points because I don't wipe off the milk bottle every time we use it, and he gets points for acting like... well, like a man!! LOL!! It was just so funny, and a lot of fun! Apparently he IS the wonderful old-fashioned man I wanted - now if only I could remind myself of that next time he beats on his chest, lol!!


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  9. That looks so fun. I can't believe you didn't want your van to smell like decomposing sealife. How odd.

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