Party/Family Visit

For those of you who keep up with my sister's blog (Hicks Family Four), this might be a tad bit of a repeat.=) I do promise, though, not to say the exact same thing as she did!=) Moving on. . .

This past Saturday a few members of my family flew into town for my nephew's first birthday. My parents, sister and husband and aunt all flew in on Friday afternoon to be here for the festivities that awaited us on Saturday. It was nice to see them and spend some time with them. Especially my younger sister and her husband as we do not get to see them much at all. So it was REALLY nice to get to spend some time with them. My parents ended up staying at my sister's house while Frank and I had the privilege of having my sister, her husband and aunt stay at ours. Much Wii was played at the house at night.=) It was a lot of fun!

ANYWAY, (I am digressing and not really talking about the party much, am I?). . .

Saturday morning we arrived at the party house between 11 and 11:30. Some of us helped get the last minute things taken care of, while others (cough, cough - Tom and Frank) turned on the sports channel to await the upcoming college football game.=) Around noon the first guest arrived and the party was in full swing!=) Gabe's party theme was the farm, so my sister had farm plates and cups. She also had made a cute cow cake as the main birthday cake!

After the guests arrived, we blessed the yummy food from Chick-Fil-A and mingled with the guests. My sister even had a little table off to the side where the kids could decorate their own cupcake as well as a fall picture. It was really cute. One of the guest's children decorated her cupcake the right way - with lots of frosting!=) (I told her I wanted her making my cupcake!)=) When all of the eating was done we eagerly awaited for Gabe to blow out his candle (which he didn't really do. . Marcail - the big sister - helped out on this end) and dig into his cupcake. Then we waited some more. . and some more. . and some more until finally. .. . his little finger touched the icing and he brought it to his mouth! We all held our breath to see what he would do next and then he did .. . . nothing.=) Mommy (my sister) helped show him how to tear up the cupcake and eat it piece by piece. Apparently Gabe's not into the whole messy scene.=) It was fun to watch him try, though!=)

Next came present time - to which all of the children there (with the exception of some friends' baby) decided to help out with.=) And they no only helped out with the opening, but also with the putting together.=) It was neat to watch the kids try to help the adults with the assembly of the toys. They actually did a great job. As for the birthday boy? He enjoyed the toys after they were put together.=)

I think it was quite the successful party. Gabe seemed to have a good time (As did his sister, who also scored some nice gifts!) and it was nice to see everyone who came for the party.

After the party was over, we had the chance of traveling out to the Northeast Florida Fair in Callahan, FL. We got to see livestock (cows, rabbits, pigs, ducks, roosters, etc.), watch Marcail play a couple of games, visit with friends, get our picture taken (Friends of ours - check out their blog: In His Images - had a booth there and were taking pictures for only $5), and eat yummy fair food (You know, BBQ, funnel cakes, kettle corn. . yumm!)!!! It was nice to go out there and walk around for a while. It did get quite nippy though after a little while. I'm amazed at how quickly it can cool down!! Actually felt a little bit like fall!=)

Sunday was the last day my sister and her husband were in town, so after church we all went out to dinner together. Then my sister's husband (who loves the beach) asked to go down to the water. Now, please know that it was not warm on this day. The wind was blowing, it was chilly, no sun in the sky. Not really beach weather. However, my sister's husband was determined to go swimming in the ocean and being the good hosts that we are, we obliged.=) So after lunch we drove down to the beach, found a nice place to park and watched as my sister's husband took off for the ocean and dove straight in!! It was quite the sight!!=) After this (and after he had dried off) we went back to sister's house before taking my sister and her husband to the airport.

That evening we all just relaxed around the house and visited with one another. It was a great weekend and a great visit! I can honestly say that one of my favorite things to do is to spend time with my family! I love them very much and truly appreciate every opportunity I get to see them! They're a lot of fun!=)