Cayucos

So, I recently got to spend a week in California with my Dad's sister's family. Seven kids in the family. They like to play board games when they get together. I was in heaven. We played Scene It: Squabble more than once and the boys couldn't understand why they weren't winning. I guess that, if you put Terry, Todd and Tom on the same team, they usually win.
I started the weekend off by picking up my brother in Bozeman (notice his hair, big sausage curls down past his shoulders and then he chopped it all off for Locks of Love) and we grabbed lunch then went to the airport. We had to get ourselves up to Cayucos from L.A. We landed just before seven at night and made it to the 'rents' condo around 10:30. The fires were amazing. We weren't at all close but you could see the flames lighting up the northern sky. The condo was right on the beach. Almost every morning, we started the day by walking along the beach. Notice the coffee mugs in almost every hand and my mother in her jammies. In this picture, she had picked up some big piece of seaweed and was swinging it back and forth until the darn thing broke off. It's not often that the four of us get to spend time together so the three days we had were pretty awesome. We played a lot of Euchre. Stupid boys kept winning.

It was a great week. We saw a bunch of dolphins and seals. I even made it into the water once, the ocean is breathtakingly cold. The absolute worst part of the vacation was when I rolled my ankle playing beach volleyball. Say it with me, "aaaaawwwwww." Just can't help but feel sorry for me, can ya? A week of sand, sun and ice cream. Poor, poor me.
On Thursday night, I went to San Luis Obispo with my cousins Emily and Katie. There is a farmer's market there every week. Unfortunately, it was all food. We had really been hoping for more of a people/artisan's market. Earrings or other jewelry would have been appreciated. But there were none. Katie is... almost seventeen and the youngest of seven. She's definitely a pistol, keeps the rest of the family on their toes. Emily just turned 21 and is excited to be able to drink. On Friday, I went out with her, her father, and his two friends to play shuffle board. It was an experience. They were definitely more of drinkers than I am. I had three beers and quit. All in all, a week full of brand-new experiences.

Family portraits