Memorial Day, Indeed

This past Sunday we had our annual Memorial Day picnic. People come from near and far (far being New Jersey :) to score some major eats, play some wiffle ball, drink some drinks, and make some memories. We've had crazy beautiful weekends recently, so it should go without saying that Sunday was so hot and humid you could sweat just standing still. Here's the temp at around 10 a.m.:

At least the sun stayed in bed all day so it wasn't unbearable. I think it was in the 90s by mid-afternoon. With the increased backyard size since the pool came down, the groundskeepers (my dad and cousin Joe) decided to slightly rotate and greatly expand the playing field. Never mind that laundry poles are now smack in the middle of the field...

This is where left field (right field? let's just say outfield) was last year.

And here it is this year:

And of course you'd have picnic seating just off the foul line. That tree the table is under is the one I always thought would be a perfect reading tree for a younger me. I'll have to pretend it was one, because there's no way current me is climbing up there :)

Isn't that a great picnic tree? You see that giant blue sign on the fence in the back? We have several from different places (you can see in the pics above). The groundskeepers like to pretend they're creating a genuine ball field with sponsors and all that jazz.

When we had our 25th anniversary "celebration" of Memory Field, my brother and sisters and Dad had interviews with people, and we took a ton of pictures in addition to the eleventy-million we've accumulated over the years. My dad put together a slideshow of sorts, setting twenty-five years of memories to music. They set up a TV and speakers outside and gathered everyone around to watch.

 (side note: that's what the side of our house looked like before we added the porch)

Everyone had a nice chuckle at their horrible clothes and hairstyles from yesteryear, and sat there
with silly grins, just remembering.

Of course he had to throw in an 'in memoriam' segment, which had everyone sniffling and quiet. But most of the memories were happy ones. My sister will flip on some level when she sees I posted her big old baby belly online. But that just means one thing. Pretty soon there'll be another set of these to kiss and tickle:

You know I loves me some iddy biddy baby feet!

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, but I think that's because we've had 27 years worth of these events. Some things never change. And that's not always a bad thing.

OK, must trot. All I've got to do is finish up some bag handles and that order is done! Plus I've got my quilt block to get crackin' on. See you soon!