austin the marine

as i mentioned earlier, my brother austin recently became a marine :)  i flew to san diego for his graduation and of course took lots of pictures and video :)  this is definitely the best one, right at the end of the ceremony as they receive their dismissal order:

....or... i can't get this video to upload :(  sad.  i'll keep trying!  but for now, pictures!....

can you find waldo?  according to ryan and my dad, they could spot austin by the way he was standing.  what the what?  i couldn't.  but he IS in this picture!

it was really cool to see the base and hear all about boot camp.  they had a really neat museum and welcome center set up so we could see and hear all about the experience.  here's me trying out the backpack they carried (austin said the real one was much heavier!).  i am strong like bull!

 family photo op!  need to photoshop in cassie, nate and cadiem!

los dorks.

 

leaving the base!

 

i'm really proud of austin and so glad i got to be there!

let's do sunset!

(i wrote this in Captiva and am just now posting)


I know it's funny that a post about the beach would come right after a post about fall, but since we were just there: I love living in Florida and being able to head to the beach for the weekend.  sure, the summers are miserably hot but that's passed for the year and we've earned the upcoming six months of beautiful weather (plus we catch a
lot of movies in the summer while enjoying the air conditioning!)!

it's become a tradition of ours to play van morrison's into the mystic as we drive into the area.  you know that moment when you're headed to the beach and then after a long drive you are close enough that the air is a bit cooler and you can just catch a hint of salt or catch a glimpse of the water?  that moment.

I also love:

• How Nate is always reading a Michael Connelly book and because the whole back cover is his face it looks as if Nate's body has Michael Connelly's head.
• The moment after you've dragged a day's worth of stuff out onto the sand and you sit in your beach chair and think "we are here!"
• Floating out in the almost wave-less gulf and being completely and totally relaxed.
• How everyone shows up to watch the sunset in Captiva, cocktail in hand.
• Going to the grocery store on a beach trip (or any vacation really) and going into full vacation food spree mode- cheese!  chips!  wine!  fruit!  crackers!

can't wait to go back ;)