My oldest brother turns 40 later this week and my sister-in-law arranged a big surprise party for him last weekend. We flew to Charleston on Friday, the party was Saturday night, and then we were back on a plane on Monday. We had a really good time visiting for the short time that we were in South Carolina, though, and I am so happy we could be there to surprise my brother. Especially because I like to remind him that I am much younger. :-)
The funny thing about this sign is that the picture they used was taken 7 years ago when we were on a family vacation. If you think he looks good for 40, that's because he is 33 in this picture! ha!
mmm, cake.
Here are the kids waiting for Uncle Lucky to come in so that they could be terrified by 75 people yelling, "surprise!" all at once.
Lucky was very excited to see us. When he walked in and everyone yelled surprise, he did a good job of not looking that surprised. But when he saw Mom and then Aunt Debbie he got a very surprised look on his face. Then he saw me and finally the kids and he seemed pretty excited. He is meeting Jack for the first time in the picture above.
Avery and Jack didn't waste any time dancing. Jack actually surprised me by how much he enjoyed dancing. He squealed and clapped his hands and danced around the floor all night. He even let strangers pick him up to dance with them. Avery was a wall flower for a little while before she realized that her little brother was showing her up and got out on the floor to show her moves. I don't have video but if you could just picture Elaine from Seinfeld, you will get an image of how Avery was dancing.
My niece and nephew Ashley and Austin singing "Happy Birthday" to their dad.
Ashley sang some karaoke for the crowd. Avery was fascinated and even went up to the microphone to give it a try. That's when she learned that reading is fundamental. Let that be a lesson to us all; you can't sing bad karaoke songs if you don't know how to read.
The obligatory picture of the grandkids with mom and dad. ___________________________________
On Sunday we went to my brother's house to hang out in the pool and celebrate Father's Day. It was then that I learned that my brothers and sisters-in-law made bets on how long my marriage would last ON MY WEDDING DAY. I will admit that I have done the same but not with family. There are rules to these kinds of things. You don't bet on family marriages failing and you only bet on friends marriages if you don't like the spouse. Geesh. Everyone knows that.
Anyway, apparently we have outlasted the bets so I guess that means we showed them.
Avery (with oreo cookie mouth) really liked seeing her extended family again. She took to Uncle Lucky and Aunt Julie right away.
Baby's First Oreo Cookie. Weird, they don't have a page for that in the baby book.
Oh man, he loved it. We had to stop him from going back for more and more. This shirt was totally trashed by the time he was done. Amazingly I was able to get all the stains out. Thank you Oxy Clean.
Jack had a lot of fun in the pool, also. He was happy to let Uncle Lucky hold him and the pool is really the best place for that since he is such a heavy guy.
Of course whenever he is ready for a nap, Grammie is his girl.
Other than nap time, he is a Poppa's boy all the way. There is no doubt where Jack's loyalties lay.
This is Allie. She is my sister-in-law's niece. Her family also came in for Lucky's birthday so it was a full house, which made it LOTS of fun. Allie is 2 weeks younger than Jack but obviously much smaller than he is. This is the "goodbye" shot on Sunday night. Notice they are holding hands and she is going in for the kiss. He clearly didn't mind!
The line up. Last picture before we left for the airport on Monday morning. Avery had a good time playing with her cousins. She even scored some cool dress-up clothes thanks to cousin Ashley growing up (against all of my orders not to).
Avery (with oreo cookie mouth) really liked seeing her extended family again. She took to Uncle Lucky and Aunt Julie right away.
Baby's First Oreo Cookie. Weird, they don't have a page for that in the baby book.
Oh man, he loved it. We had to stop him from going back for more and more. This shirt was totally trashed by the time he was done. Amazingly I was able to get all the stains out. Thank you Oxy Clean. 
Jack had a lot of fun in the pool, also. He was happy to let Uncle Lucky hold him and the pool is really the best place for that since he is such a heavy guy.
Of course whenever he is ready for a nap, Grammie is his girl.
Other than nap time, he is a Poppa's boy all the way. There is no doubt where Jack's loyalties lay.
This is Allie. She is my sister-in-law's niece. Her family also came in for Lucky's birthday so it was a full house, which made it LOTS of fun. Allie is 2 weeks younger than Jack but obviously much smaller than he is. This is the "goodbye" shot on Sunday night. Notice they are holding hands and she is going in for the kiss. He clearly didn't mind!
The line up. Last picture before we left for the airport on Monday morning. Avery had a good time playing with her cousins. She even scored some cool dress-up clothes thanks to cousin Ashley growing up (against all of my orders not to). Not pictured: the HUGE tantrum Avery threw during the last 30 minutes of the flight home. There are people talking about us, though, and they are praying that we are not on their next flight out of Austin.
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