California

Eating fish and chips on the one cloudy day.

We have not taken a long vacation in years so when my cousin Kelli said she had an extra spot for beach camping for a week during fall break we jumped on it. I truly believe that it was Grandpa Goodman getting us together again. It was at his funeral that Kelli and I saw each other and had time to visit, we were always the closest and best of friends growing up. Her brother Mike and I were in the same grade and Uncle Steve and Aunt Cindy would always invite me to go on vacation with her family each summer from junior high on, then life happened, we got jobs, got married had kids and got busy. We would see each other at family things but those were getting farther and farther apart. This was an opportunity to reconnect and for our kids to get to know their second cousins and it was a huge success. Kelli and Ryan have 4 kids, Barret, Afton, Rowan and Easton, Mike and Sherri have 5, Bryant, Randi, Tanner, Tallin and Tate and add our 4 in the mix and everyone had someone to play with and play we did.

With beach camping you have no TV or video games to fall back on (like when you stay in a hotel) and so we visited, laughed a ton, boogie boarded, played football, dug in the sand, visited some more, played games, watched the fire burn, watched the glowing waves (plankton migration made the waves literally glow - so dang cool) read books, ate donuts, memorized passages from Harry Potter ("I can make things move without touching them ..." ) roasted anything you can think of, Starburst, donuts, marshmallows you get the idea. So much fun, I asked my kids if they want to go back and without hesitation they said yes, but the best part is they all said that they are excited for the Goodman events because now they know their cousins :)

Classic Taylor and Kyley interaction - they have the best relationship :)
Ty and Kyley eating the goldfish before the seagulls got them.
this is one of my favorite pictures - watching the sunset

We had grumpy people in the campsite so we were glad when they left. One day we lined our campsite (which was across from this one) like we were at a parade and cheered for anyone we knew that went by and it was a lot of people. The little kids faces glowed as we cheered, we gave Kelli the wave and the kids did tricks, well after everyone had left, Wyatt was just learning to ride his scooter and I cheered "woo, yeah" and the grumpy camper said "Oh don't start that again." I ignored her and continued to cheer for my son I even resisted the urge to cheer louder. Then she asked the questions which became the running joke, "Are you Christian" I was a taken back by that question. I said yes and she said "Well I wouldn't think so with all that racket and carrying on." I replied "I did not know that as a Christian you weren't suppose to cheer for those you love?" She stomped off and gave us dirty looks for the day they were there. We all got some good mileage out of that conversation.An example of a trick "The Superman" that would have gotten lots of cheers

Wyatt being a sea monster and crawling through the tunnel Bryant made.

Barret, Afton, Kyley and Ty going out to catch a wave.

All but 3 of the cousins on the Rock Pier - Tallin, Tanner, Randi, Taylor, AFton, Ty, Kyley, Waytt, Barrett, Easton - can't wait 'til next year!