Reunion Days 3,4 & 5 - Carlsbad Beach

We skipped town a.s.a.p. after our tour of the U.S.S. Midway to head for the beach, but not before some divine gelato and cannoli in San Diego's Little Italy.  It was all my idea, and fortunately did not disappoint (no pics.) 

The highlight of our week-long reunion was our three day stay at the beach in Carlsbad, north of San Diego.  Here we at last met up with my three other brothers and their families.  The goal was to camp on the beach, because someone heard from someone last year that you could reserve sites at a state owned beach there fairly inexpensively--, and we're all about inexpensive for our reunions.  We soon learned of the madness involved in actually securing a spot- which is done online on a specific date in February- at an appointed hour- in which thousands of people sit at their computers with pounding hearts and baited breath- and frantically hit the 'submit' button over and over and over again within a matter of two minutes- which is approximately how long it took before every site was spoken for- for the entire summer.  We managed to secure three spots for three days with ten of us madly engaged in the hot pursuit.  Three spots for six families.  Creighton and I volunteered to set ourselves up at a nearby hotel-  partly due to two recent episodes of sleepwalking by little Kate.  Images of her meandering right into the ocean were more than I could bear. 

And so we parked ourselves at the Best Western Oceanside for the duration. 

I don't have much to show for our beach days, and what I do have is sorely lacking.  We're gathering next week to swap photos, but until then, here's a smattering of pictures:

My brother, Todd, gave surfing lessons to all interested parties. 

 I hadn't seen my brother, Raymond (below,) for 4 years! Far too long.

I spent most of my time with the twins in shallow water and on the rocks,  but managed to get in 

a little boogie-boarding, too:

Luke literally got wasted surfing.  He's putting on a smile here, but he was thoroughly burned by water, sand and sun and had to sit out for most of a day to recover. 

We spent our evenings at this campsite with plenty of good food and....bongo drums, naturally.

The older girls threw their guitars and ukeleles into the mix.

Before heading out on our last day, we had a grand-slam breakfast.  My brother, Mark, stepped in as bacon chef- a skill he's perfected since co-founding his own annual "Bacon Fest" in High School, years ago:

My sister-in-law, Brittany, documented our days in Carlsbad far better than I -and with fabulous pictures.  You can see her blog here.  I'm snagging this family shot from her post:

This is for my Mom, who envisioned us all in rainbow colors!