A Weekend of Family Fun

This past weekend was a joyous one! My hubby retired from his job after 36 years and we celebrated his 60th birthday. Our son and daughter-in-law flew in from D.C. Our daughter flew in from Colorado. Along with my daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren who live nearby,our family was all together for the festivities.

His co-workers put together a very nice program for him on Wednesday afternoon. It was a little bit serious and yet had some humor. Very nice words were spoken about him from his boss, co-workers and administration. We were very proud to witness how many people he had touched.

Then came the big bash at our house. We both come from large families.So along with parents, siblings and friends we had a houseful. My children and grandchildren helped to put together a wonderful party. Our theme was "He's Going On Permanent Vacation.With three of us being teachers,(my daughter Rana , daughter-in-law Angela and I) we came up with "centers" for our guests to stop at. As they entered the party they were given a "passport".

They had to stop at each center and complete a task. When that was completed they stamped their passport. The centers included birthday pics of Jerry through the years, (They had to guess his age.) a chance to add to Jerry's Bucket list and a short quiz of questions about Jerry. (There were 5 centers in all.) Once the passport was stamped, they got a "ticket for fun". (lottery ticket) We also put out a bunch of photo props, a background and a digital camera. We got some pretty funny pics!

As you can see from the above collage everyone pitched in to create a delicious spread of foods from "around the world"(kept the travel theme going). My daughter Lacie and son Jon are great in the kitchen so we used their expertise! The little girls had fun making tortellin skewers.

We don't have our family all together very often so it was a real treat. (We did miss our son-in-law Cody who wasn't able to join us.)Jerry was pretty overwhelmed by everyone's thoughtfulness and generosity. It was a sweet tribute to him that so many people would come and help him celebrate. I just thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company.

I'm younger than Jerry so I won't be having a milestone birthday this year. I would like to retire next fall though. I'm not keen on the idea of a big party for me (even though Jerry's was fun). My dream celebration would be to have all of my family go somewhere to vacation together. (hint, hint) That would be a great way to start my "Permanent Vacation"!