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.