Family and Old Friends Reunion

Today we got to spend the afternoon with some of our old family friends that I grew up with. Our families were so close, I think I spent every day with one or more of them from the time I was 6 years old until I left for college! We played together, spent summers at the beach together, went on vacations together, and even moved next door to each other.
Liz decided it had been way too long since we had all been together, so she planned a BBQ at her beautiful house in San Clemente. The weather was perfect, and the company was even better. We all had a great time catching up, meeting each other's kids that some of us hadn't even met, and eating lots of food.

Mary planned a friendly competition of games and organized us into teams.

(Waiting for the wheelbarrow races to begin!)

(Joe and I competing at horseshoes!)

(Girls against boys...building block towers competition)

We finished off the game competition with a water balloon toss. After it was all over, I somehow became the target and ended up getting soaked!

The kids were finally ready to eat...
We also had to throw in a small celebration for my Mom's upcoming 6oth birthday. She refused (and demanded!) that we not throw a party for her, so we just did a small un-birthday party with a little cake.
Tom closed out the evening with a great speech!
It was such a nice afternoon together, and we're hoping to make it an annual event from now on. So until next year...