Good times at the beach

I recently returned from a big family reunion that we have every three years in San Carlos,
Mexico. San Carlos is a little town (just outside the city of Guaymas in the state of Sonora) on the coast. This reunion includes all of the extended family on my mom's side and frequently some family friends who decide to join in the festivities. My grandparents have ten children and almost 80 grandchildren, so we are quite a substantial force when we are all down there together. It is always a blast! We typically rent condominiums right on the beach and stay for about a week. Each family does their own breakfasts and lunches and then in the evening the whole gang gathers together for a group dinner. Two or three families are in charge of dinner and an activity for one night during the week so that you are free every other night to just enjoy the delicious food and the great company.

The best thing about our Mexico vacations is that there is nothing in particulare that we have to do. We just roll with whatever we feel like doing. Most of our time was spent playing on the beach, floating in the ocean, or hanging-out in the pool. We had 12 people from our immediate family with us this year and we had a blast playing games and just spending time together.

A few of the highlights for me this trip included the trip down with all of us in our big, white, 15-passenger van (that we affectionately refer to as Moby Dick- the great white); catching crabs in the estuary; eating lots of great food; playing with the cousins; learning to sail; getting sucked into Avatar (a favorite TV series of my siblings); and soaking up the sun...the weather was awesome while we were there.

Although we had some serious fun and good times there were a few not-so-highlights to our trip. Some of those included the drive down with everyone in the van, a serious ankle sprain, irritating bug bites, lobster-like sunburns, and vicious jellyfish stings.

Despite all of that this is one of the most fun and anticipated family traditions that we have. Everyone excitedly looks forward to and plans for it. My brother told us, as he was arranging his work schedule to take time off, that he would quit his job before he would miss Mexico! Most of us feel the same way. With this trip over, we are all dealing with the onset of post-vacation depression and anxiously looking forward to the next time!