The Grand Celebration, Part 1

On January 13, 2011, my parents will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.  F-I-F-T-I-E-T-H.  5-0.  Is that amazing or what!?  Last winter, we began discussing how we would commorate this incredible milestone.  Instead of a party, their request was that the whole family go on vacation together.  Of course, we all loved this idea too! We discussed a cruise, but some weren't crazy about leaving land, and some job situations didn't permit committing to a full 5-day trip 10 months in advance.  We settled on a trip to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, AL.  Several of us had been before, so we knew what a wonderful place it is, but none of us had seen it at Christmastime. 

So on December 18, after much planning, discussion, and what must have been hundreds of emails, The Grand Celebration officially began.  Saturday dinner was our first group function - we met at a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate Daddy's birthday.  It's not actually until January 16, but it seemed appropriate to celebrate it along with the anniversary and since we would all be together. 



When we got back to the hotel, we headed to the Skylounge in the main building, which we had reserved as our meeting area.  It had a beautiful view of the bay, and was the perfect place for all 25 of us to sit around comfortably, talk, and play games.  

From left - Holly Beth, Blake, Leanne, Paul, Crawford, Owen, Carter (partial), Alec, Mitch, Melissa



Owen, Carter, Alec, Mitch, Melissa, Jason, Tiffany, Craig, AnnaClaire, Susannah

We each wrote down a favorite memory or story involving Daddy, then drew them out of a hat and read them aloud.  It was fun to guess who had written what, and see what has stood out to different people (like all 3 of the teenage guys writing about going to Baron's baseball games).  It turned out to be a great way to share familiar stories and hear some new ones too.

Saturday night wound up culminating at the indoor pool (since all our guestrooms were in the Spa Building where it is located).  The men were in one corner playing spades, the girls were in the opposite corner visiting, and the grandsons and younger girls were in the pool. 

Sunday morning, Jason and a couple of the guys got up and went fishing.  Evidently it was wonderfully exciting for the first few minutes, before the lack of fish and cold caught up to them. :)  A bit later, a bunch of us enjoyed the famous Grand Breakfast Buffet (lump crab omelet . . . YUMMMM).  At 1 p.m., we were all to be dressed and ready for the family picture.  I wish I could adequately recount the hours of discussion that went into what we should all wear.  For the last 3 years, Jason has been the designated family photographer, but Tiffany's boyfriend (now fiance!), Craig, was able to be there for this portion and take it for us.  Jason was thrilled.  Much easier than him having to set the timer and run back and forth from the picture to the camera. Plus, Craig is incredibly talented and did a phenomenal job corralling 25 rather opinionated subjects.  See the result? 


Heffington Family, 2010

Sunday's dinner was our Hawaiian-themed luau at Original Oyster House.  We had a private room so we could have as much fun as we wanted.  I will share the full wedding story later, but Mom & Daddy were married in Hawaii when he was stationed with the Army there for 15 months. We tried to dress as festively as we could, considering it was December and our summer clothes were packed away.

Grandchildren, including unborn Bradford. :)

I was planning to wear one of Mom's original mumus, that she wore often while pregnant with Lane.  However, we somehow managed to forget how remarkably petite she was as an 18 year old.  Suffice it to say that it didn't fit my pregnant body as well as it had hers.  Yeah, how does it make a pregnant girl feel when a MUMU is too small?  You guess.  Anyway, I had to improvise with a sarong.

They were married as mere infants, I tell you!

Wish we all could be fun sisters . . . Laura, Margaret Lindi, Mom, Daddy, Lynn, Lane, Leanne

 Mom recently converted all their slide photos to digital format, so with a little effort from our resident AV expert, we were able to watch their Hawaii pictures while enjoying our dinner.  Laura did an AWESOME job planning, decorating, and organizing this event!