Party!

Saturday my Patient Husband and daughter and son and their families hosted a retirement party for me.  I have three work days left and then life will be very different!  And yes, indeed, I am excited! 
We had about 50 people here to wish me well, show me what retirement smiles look like and eat good food.  It was a wonderful day and I thanked them so very much.

That's my son on the end in the yellow shirt and daughter-in-law on the end in black and a friend is holding his Michael.  My mom is on the other end in black, my aunt at the end of the table in white, my cousin in the middle in orange, my brother reaching for his wine in orange, my sister-in-law next to him.

Friend Marge (giver of antique quilts) on the right, Friend Sue in the middle and me.  We have been together since 5th grade.  I'm afraid to count the years!  Is that shirt teal or aqua? 

This is what the end of the day felt like.  Adelaide fell asleep chewing.

 

But we started the day with smiles!   That cockeyed grin is Adelaide's new look!

Sunday morning Grandpa and I took the four to the beach.  Soon as we got to the bottom of the steps the shoes came off and they took off in four different directions.  I love that about our secluded beach.  They go off exploring and we let them. It's good to be alone, exploring, without a grownup around telling you what to touch and not to touch. Elizabeth is very big into not allowing grownups to interfere. They come home with treasures of stones, driftwood, "chalk rocks" and anything else they can carry.

What's that term about herding cats?  It was a bit like that to get them all to come together for a pic.  Grandma is always asking them to sit still for "just one minute, PLEASE!" so I can get a pic.  It isn't always easy!

 

 King of the mountain and so far, at least til Michael grows up a little, king of the crew.  

 

 His thing at the beach is skipping stones into the lake.  My son taught him how a couple of years ago and it's what he does...over and over...counting the skips.  He got up to four this day and was pretty proud till Grandpa tried and got six!  Pretty good form for a seven year old.

Elizabeth is our little nature girl. 

Adelaide is our billy goat.  She'll climb a flat wall if she could.  She was heading for scrambling up the cliff again and I had to use my stern voice to get her down.  The poison ivy is starting to leaf and she's extremely sensitive to it.  Spoiler alert, mommy.

 

Ceci is learning, and learning fast.  She is a Botticelli beauty.

 I love this.  I absolutely love that we had this couple of hours with them on the beach alone, watching them congeal as a team of cousins, loving the time together and becoming friends. This picture makes my heart swell.

Michael didn't spend his whole time sleeping, but I can never resist pictures of sleeping babies.  Those cheeks are special kissers. (Those are pacifier lines on his cheeks!!)

We ALSO added Grandpa's birthday to the weekend mix!   If you count the candles, they are a representative number.  But I'm not sayin'......   Look at that teamwork!

We had the bestest weekend we could have asked for.  Family, friends, grandkids all over the place, all together having a great time.  How much better can it get!!