Family Reunion Fun

I think we set a record for Most Crazy Fun Weekend Ever. On Friday afternoon our Pittsburgh cousins arrived in Boulder for the beginning of our family reunion. The cousins came to our house to get acquainted. Sam and Alex met when Sam was two, so it's been a while. Sam is almost 7 and Charlie is 6 weeks younger than Adam so they were all perfectly matched. Sam was a little shy but that didn't last for long. After hanging out at our house for a while, we took them to Casa Alverez for dinner.

Saturday morning didn't slow down. We went to one of Alex's classmate's birthday party in the park at 9:00 am. Her parents brought a Coleman stove and made pancakes and then the kids played. After the party, we met up with our cousins. After some lunch fortification at Chipolte, we went to the CU campus. We started at Varsity Pond to see the carp and turtles, then checked out the stadium. Here are the boys posing with Ralphie:



We wanted to go the the UMC student center but it was closed, but luckily the little museum was open. We stayed at the museum for an hour, then went to The Hill for souvenirs and ice cream. And then it was time to got to the parent's house for pizza. The whole family was at the parents house - Grannie Shirley, Uncle Rick, Aunt Shari, cousin Debbie and her fiance Hirsh plus the usual suspects.

On Sunday we went down to Pearl Street with our cousins. The Bolder Boulder expo was there, as was the Boulder Creek Festival.



For lunch, we met Uncle Rick, Aunt Shari, Debbie and Hirsh for lunch at the Tea House. We had planned to check out the festival after lunch (we had just seen Pearl Street before lunch) but scrapped that in favor for a quick dip in the cousin's hotel pool. And quick was all the boys needed, the pool was outdoors AND not heated. But the whirl pool was ok:



We had just enough time to shower before the big party for Grannie Shirley's 90th birthday at my house. My parents arranged for catering from Pasta Jays plus appetizers and a cake so I just provided the space. And mojitos. It's not a party without mojitos.

Grannie Shirley wanted a picture of all 6 cousins. This was as good as I got. Forgive Ariel's hair, she had already had a rowdy session in the sand box:



I think this captures the kids better:



I took a few engagement pictures of Debbie and Hirsh:



And here are Jesse, Julie, Sam and Charlie:



Grannie Shirley:



And the whole gang:



Ariel's Baby Momma:



The party lasted until the kids were done, around 8:00. Becky, Carl and Ariel spent the night in anticipation of Monday's festivities...

Monday - Becky and I got up early for the Bolder Boulder 10k road race. It was a perfect rainy day for running. We had no room for a camera, so here we are before getting on the bus to the start of the race:



The bus business worked out fine and put us at the start in time to stand in the 30 minute bathroom line. I didn't have to pee when we got in the line so the 30 minutes wait didn't matter.

Our race went about as well as we could have hoped. I finished with dignity (my definition - no walking and no bodily function malfunctions). Becky and I stayed together the whole course and finished in 1:05:32. Carl and the kids met us at the end of the race - Jeremy was already on his way to the airport. Yes, it's finally India time and Jeremy is going to spend the next two weeks in Bangalore.

After the race we finally had some down time and the kids watched Star Wars while I rested. And then for dinner we went back to the parents for some BBQ and to say goodbye to the fam.

As crazy as it was, it was a great weekend and I'm so glad that all the cousins enjoyed each other so much. There was much talk by the youngins on both sides of needed to move to other's city.