Party for My Parents

On Saturday, July 31st, we hosted a party at our house in honor of my parents' 70th birthdays and my mom's retirement from the Bayonne Board of Ed. Mom was 70 on June 11th, and Dad hits the big milestone on August 24th. We had a huge tent set up in our yard and a friend of mine from work did the catering for us - it was FABULOUS food! He lives locally so if anyone ever needs a recommendation for a caterer around the Howell area, I highly recommend him, so feel free to contact me for his info. He actually was an intern in my office a few years ago and was hired by another department in Athletics full-time just last year. Great kid, very reliable, and an EXCELLENT cook! Everyone raved about the food! And we had the BEST weather - no humidity; it was warm, but not unbearable, and the tent provided plenty of shade. We also set up 2 kiddie pools, which of course Tommy would not go near at all. But the 15 or so other kids really enjoyed them along with a sprinkler we borrowed from my friend Denise. John also set up the beanbag game (cornhole) for the adults to play, and the menfolk had games going on all afternoon.

We had about 70 people, including kids, at the party, so I admit that I was so happy and relieved that the weather cooperated! We would have made it work somehow if we had to move some folks inside, but we did the tent for a reason, and thankfully it just needed to provide shade and not shelter!

I did not get as many good photos of the day as I thought, but I did actually ENJOY the day because we hired a server/waitress to make sure things were refilled, set up, cleaned up, etc. The girl was excellent, and it allowed my sister and I especially to sit and relax most of the afternoon and visit with so many family and friends who came out to celebrate these great milestones for my parents! My Aunt Denise (my mom's sister) came in from Arizona, and my Uncle Rich (mom's brother) came in from California. It was not a surprise party, but my dad must not have looked too closely at the invitation, because he was a bit surprised to see several of his friends there, and we had to remind him it was a joint party for both him and my mom!

My mom and brother enjoying some food under the tent

Dad and his friends John and Larry, probably planning their tailgate menus for the 2010 Rutgers Football season!

Siblings - my mom with her brothers and sister, Robert, Richard and Denise

Can't do a post without at least one photo of Tommy! He's sitting with his cousin Ali. I will have to ask my mom what cousins they are. Ali's mom and I are 3rd cousins, I believe. So are they 4th cousins? Or does the 'once removed' thing come in at this point?

How awful that we did not get any other family photos of all of us? Sigh. But we had a really great day with everyone who came out to help us celebrate, and that's really all that matters! Tommy barely napped with all the excitement but he had a lot of fun playing with his cousins.