Nana and Grandpa's 40th Anniversary Celebration

As it's now the middle of September and I am still stuck in July in "blog time," it's time to play a game of Blog Catch-Up!  Expect some relative oldies but goodies in the days/weeks ahead.

Speaking of oldies... :)

Happy 40th Anniversary to Nana and Grandpa!!

We were so excited that Nana and Grandpa were taking all of us on vacation to Brigantine in honor of their anniversary, so Aunt Erin, Uncle Tim, and I wanted to do something special to help celebrate their very special milestone.  We decided to designate our first full day of vacation, which was appropriately on a Sunday, as that special day.  Nana and Grandpa knew not to make any plans on that day, but they had no idea what was in store!

After mass on Sunday, as everyone else in the congregation was leaving, Nana and Grandpa started noticing that there were actually some people arriving.  People they knew.  People like all of the Rhode Island G-willies.  Then they noticed that everyone was moving to the front of the church.  And sitting nicely!  Which is no easy feat with this many kids involved!

Nana and Grandpa seemed a little confused at this point, so I told them that I'd like to introduce them to Fr. Bill, the pastor there at St. Thomas, who then asked them to come on up to the front of the church.  Nana and Grandpa were smiling, looking from Fr. Bill to each other to all of us in the pews... and were still a little confused.

To add to the confusion, there was another family also in the front of the church, waiting to have their sweet little baby baptized.  Fr. Bill announced to everyone that we had a lot to celebrate today, and asked if the baptism party could hang tight while we first celebrated a 40th anniversary.  He then asked Nana and Grandpa to join hands, and suddenly, they weren't so confused.

And it was with that that Nana and Grandpa renewed their wedding vows - with even more witnesses than expected.

It was such a beautiful little ceremony and I think there was not a dry eye in the family!

We then headed outside to take some quick "wedding photos" (there was a baptism going on, after all!).

The bride and groom

Liam wanted so badly to get his picture taken in front of the church too!

And then it was off to the Laguna Grill for lunch.  After all, what's a wedding without a reception?!

Laguna Grill is right on the beach, and our party room had a fantastic view.  I love this picture of Daddy and his boys taking in the sights.

Once we were all gathered, it was time for Uncle Tim to give the toast.  It was beautiful!

Cheers!

You may kiss the bride!

One time around!

It was such a fun party with great food and even better company.  Just a few of my favorite pics:

Anneke and Shannon

The happy couple

The 2-year-old brigade- these three were so cute playing together!

After lunch and some afternoon beach time, the party continued back at our vacation house with an all-encompassing celebratory cake.  

I don't know how she did it, but Lena slept on her grandfather for the entire evening.  Girlfriend must have been exhausted to have slept through our chaos!

Post-cake pass-out!

 The chaos was somewhat organized, at least in the beginning anyway, as the kids surprised Nana and Grandpa by putting on a Talent Show... starting, of course, with an enthusiastic rendition of 1D's "That's What Makes You Beautiful":

Ok, so maybe not everyone was enthusiastic...

But then again, maybe so!

Go Grandpa, Go Grandpa Go!

The second act was the Amazing Sarah and her assistant Pierre, who performed feats of magic for us all.

Followed by the Break Dancing Anya, who dazzled us with those moves!

 Anya's act inspired some other little dancers to get into the groove, too:

After some other great acts by Colin, Gilbey, and Jason, it was time for the Grand Finale: a surprise rendition of Elton John's "Your Song", which had special significance to Nana and Grandpa's courtship many years ago.  The kids had all been practicing separately in the weeks leading up to this vacation, and it was so cool to see them all singing it together!

They were definitely a crowd favorite.

And afterwards, it was time to dance!

The last surprise of the night was bringing back one of the great G-willie traditions- the Beach Bum shirt!  While usually reserved for the youngest generation, this year we all joined in.

GG and Aunt Erin showing off their green

 And with a final game of "Hot Potato", it was time to bring our party (but not the celebration!) to an end.