18 + 80

Well, 18 months and 80 years, that is. Colin and Gillian turned 18 months old on April 24th. We were visiting the Great North for the weekend, since my Grandpa turned 80 on April 26th, and my family had planned a BIG party for the awesome occasion!

Grammy Lynn and Grandpa Frank were nice enough to keep the kids while they napped, so Michael and I could help get ready for the Big Party! C&G, Grammy, and Grandpa joined us a little later after the kiddos got some rest.

Great-Grandpa had a "Tractor Themed" party, what else? So, the cake and cupcakes were decorated accordingly:



(Rachel and Matthew made the tractor picks for the cupcakes. How tedious. But cute.)

80 never looked so DELICIOUS! (That's an exclamation point after the 80. We had a few too many cupcakes!)


Then the guests started arriving! I believe Michael and I compromised on an estimate of 70-85 guests in total. Most of the guests were extended family, but my Grandpa has quite a collection of friends, and of course there were church friends as well. It was a great group of guests....who managed to eat four freezers of homemade ice cream, a sheet cake, and about 40 cupcakes! Some pictures from the event:

Grandpa and my cousin Jacob. This is a great picture of both of them:


Grandpa and his first cousin Wesley. I believe Wesley was in my Grandma and Grandpa's wedding party, but I may be wrong about that.


The Head Table! My Grandpa and his cousins Anna Bess and Jack. They all turned 80 this spring. And, why yes, those are good genes.


Since we had so much family present, Michael was kind enough to try to get a family portrait. All of the people in these photos are descendants of my grandfather, his sister, and his twin brothers (and those related by marriage to those descendants!). Each picture by itself is nothing spectacular, but as a flip-book style slide show, they crack me up. It so hard to take pictures of large groups, but we gave it a try.
(The slide show doesn't go quite fast enough on here for the humor to be apparent, sorry)



Anyway, my Grandpa seemed to have a fantastic time, which was the point. He is a wonderful, hard-working, good man. He deserves a party and all the love and affection he can get.

Update - Here's the final, properly cropped portrait: