A luau

She's watched her big sister celebrate her birthday and graduation.  Then she attended her cousin's graduation on her own birthday.  Several family members could not gather the day after Austin's graduation, so we put off her party for an extra week.  In Julia style, she wanted something special, so she opted for a luau and greeted the guests with leis.

Our one mistake was failing to get a friend who is like the local cake boss to make the cake.  Sam's did a good job but forgot the beach chair pictured in their book, and I wish I had chosen a bright color for the writing.

possibly my favorite picture of the day

It was hot here, so we opted for a water balloon fight.

We tried to end the night around the fire pit, but pop up storms kept putting out our fire.

It was not lost on me yesterday that this is the last year I will have a child younger than a teenager.  Julia always wants a friend party, but we have always only done those every other year- ending them in the last year or two of elementary school.  She gets another party at 13 and at 16, but I think it's plenty fun to have a big family party, and we do that every year.  I never had friend or family parties that I can remember growing up, and I think I had a pretty great childhood.