Huntington Beach Bonfire

Rachael and Brennan officially move to AZ this weekend, so they planned one final beach bonfire for the family. We had more numbers this time and we remembered to bring a table but I guess we Suman/Gerdts families have a problem with condiments. We forgot the ketchup and mustard again! No worries though, Brennan to the rescue. And we all had a great time.



Everyone cooked hotdogs, ate Meredith's yummy pasta salad, and the kids loved playing in the sand.

My mom played "ball" with Lucy and Carter for a while. But the most fun was watching them walk and then fall down on top of each other. They were making us laugh.

And here they are on the blanket, cracking each other up.
Ava did her normal adorable 7-month routine and chilled on the blanket. How cute is she?!
Lucy joined her and basically stole her favorite book away. And then they poked each other's faces.


And the book must have been popular. Brennan read it to the Carter and Lauren too.
The Eric/Laura Sumans won the hotdog record for the night. Eric ate 4 and Laura ate 3! Here are her 3-fingers-up, basking in the bragging rights:
The most beautiful part of the night was the sunset. It was gorgeous! The day had been overcast but as the sun went down, the clouds parted. Great silhouetted shots of the pier.

Of course a bonfire is not complete with messy smores....and...a guitar! We had both:

Thanks Rachael for organizing! I'm sure this is not that last of your beach adventures. In fact, now that you live away from the beach, you'll prob make more of an effort to go when you're here. Funny how that works. Great night!


EPILOGUE to the beach fun:
My mom and I left early with 4 of the kids to get them home and in bed. Lucy was whining, Jeremy wanted his mom and his dad, Lauren was cute and tried to comfort Jeremy, and Dane kept telling Lucy to "stop" the whining (I agreed). And then....Lucy threw up, four times in a row. Major gross. We were still HB and had a 25 minute drive ahead of us though, so she just had to sit in the vomit (and we all had to endure the smell). The Toll Road fee was the best spent $2.25 of the night. Here's what I think induced the sickness (see picture below)...she ate handfuls of Cheetos at the beach, which she's never done before. I don't know that I'll be eating them anytime soon: