The Wedding

Friday brought much of the immediate family together to prepare the reception site for the big day. After a few hours of work, it was time for the rehearsal and dinner at a rental house overlooking the Luffenholtz Beach. It was an incredible view and an even more incredible evening.

Saturday morning there were a few more preparations at the reception site, and then everyone met at Stone Lagoon for the ceremony. The ceremony was an incredibly unique experience, perfectly tailored to the two couples. It began with four close friends bringing in the four elements. Next, the two grooms paddled across the lagoon onto the beach, followed by a procession of the immediate family walking down the aisle to greet them. The end of the line included our niece, Lea, blowing bubbles, and Corey and Amber's two sons, Cove and Jasper as the ring bearers. Then, the moment we were all waiting for as the two brides were walked in by their father. The exchange of vows was touching - each couple had written their own.

After the ceremony, and lots of family pictures, everyone headed a half hour south to Moonstone Beach for the reception. The reception hall sits right at the edge of the beach and it allowed everyone to go and hang out on the sand (great place for some fun pictures).

There were about 200 people sharing in the great food, music, dancing and celebration of the couples. It was a true tribute to the four newlyweds that such a combination of three families and a wide collection of friends could come together so effortlessly. The DJ that began the evening was replaced by a local band (the DJ impromptu started back up a bit after midnight when the band packed up). There was a puppeteer entertaining many of the children (and plenty of adults), and during one of the band's set breaks, there was a fire show out on the beach.

Admittedly, the clean up the next morning was exactly what you'd expect from such an extravaganza. This was just one more opportunity for the family to come together - which we certainly did.

Back to Northern California

I would never have thought that I'd have even less time to post on the blog once we got back to Northern California. If we could still find time after a full day of hiking in the national parks, then surely it would be feasible when hanging out with family... I couldn't have been more wrong! The thing about hiking is that we typically aimed to be off the trail before nightfall, so even if we were exhausted we were home in the evenings. Family time knows no such limits. I am writing this post after arriving back in NH on August 24th, but I do want to capture and recap some of what went on so that it gives this blog some closure (for now). This post will summarize the family gatherings other than the wedding itself - that will get its own post.

We left San Francisco on the morning of Wednesday the 18th (after quite a hassle with getting our car out of valet parking - we won't go back to the Best Western, Hotel California again), and drove the 6 hours north through Napa and Sonoma Valleys to get to McKinnleyville where Corey and Amber live. There was a cookout at their house so that arriving family and friends from all three families could start to meet and co-mingle. If I haven't mentioned before, it is 3 families because it is a double wedding - Amber is getting married to my brother Corey (couple on right), and her twin sister Ana is marrying a wonderful guy named Adam (couple on left). I've never met any of Amber and Anna's family, or Adam and any of his family, so this was a night that definitely taxed my ability to learn names.

Thursday morning everyone gathered again to go on a small hike in the redwoods. This is an incredible thing to do at any time, but we were especially privileged to have Adam as a guide - a professional in the area of botany and forestry. It was quite a sight for other visitors to watch him guide 30 of our family members through the trails and into the woods, calling our attention to particularly interesting features. As Adam was stopped at some of the trees, various members of the family (generally led by Corey) would run around back and scamper up for exploration and photo shoots. Where you see Carmela and me standing is not between 2 trees - it is up in a forked trunk of a single tree.

That evening, we all had a pizza party at the rental house that we were renting with my father and stepmother. This was the site for even more family to arrive. Then Corey and Amber arranged for a very generous friend, Kimmy, to watch all of the children (there were about a dozen) so that the adults could go out. Adam and his band were playing at the Clam Beach Inn (check out the video below), and it made for a great location for an extended family reunion. There were some family members there that I hadn't seen for more than 15 years - with a whole generation of children that I had never met. It was great to get together, talk about old times, and catch up on the current going-ons.

There will need to be additional posts for the rehearsal dinner and wedding, as well as the time after the wedding.

Exploring Northern California

After a hearty breakfast we headed up to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. On the way we made a few stops. The first was at Stone Lagoon, where the wedding ceremony will take place. It’s a beautiful location that completely suites Corey and Amber.






The next stop was at the Roosevelt Elk herd where we (along with lots of RV’s and campers) stopped to look at and take pictures of the elk (do you see it in the background behind Carmela and me?).

When we finally arrived at the redwoods forest, we got a chance to walk among the grove of the Titans – these are some of the largest trees on the planet. They were amazing!! It’s hard to capture in pictures the scale and scope of these giants (that's why I include a video too). It is a magical place that we will have to return to explore.

The Trip Begins

Our first day of the trip we flew out to Arcata, California – up near the Oregon border. We had a brief visit with my brother Corey, his soon-to-be-wife Amber, and their two sons Cove and Jasper. With such a short stay we didn’t waste any time and headed right out to Moonstone Beach to explore a cave, hang out and play some beach bocce. It was a great time.