Aloha Luau! (July 23,2013)

In the few short weeks following Caelan's birthday party and in the midst of all the other July activities, somehow I was able to pull this together... somehow.  Well, I know how- I had some awesome support and help from a few other ladies from church.  But the biggest thing to pull off was keeping it a secret!  The reason it was so tough was because Danielle and I spent almost every single day together.  In fact, the afternoon before the party she called me to let me know she was heading over to drop off a truck load of things to store in our garage... we had most of the porch set up by then and all the decorations and necessities sitting out... I was in panic mode, texting her dad to intervene!  Dan successfully handled that close call!  So how does one plan a surprise party with a guest list of 60 people... while constantly in the presence of said surprisee?  Very, very tricky!  But mission accomplished!

Danielle had moved here temporarily- to be with family while her husband was deployed overseas, and she was pregnant with Eli.  So when Jeremy was to return in the Fall (September) they were being stationed in Hawaii.  Soooo..... we had a going away party for her-  an "Aloha Luau"- to send her off with love.  It was a BLAST!!

Now.... the end of July sounds like a pretty safe time of year to plan an outdoor party, right?  It was FIFTY degrees.  I know we did reach about 60 at some point- but even then it was overcast and VERY windy (also problematic with 3 canopies and trying to keep chairs, tablecloths, and decorations in place) and we were sooooooo COLD!! 

Of course being July and being a LUAU... people were dressed appropriately in the Hawaiian attire.  Being Michigan and unpredictable, people were freezing in that attire!  A lot of the party ended up inside-  and coffee being served in place of punch. 

But all in all- this was a PERFECT party.  Seriously.  Everything about it was great and some amazing memories were made.  One of the top three moments of the summer for sure. 

I narrowed down the pictures... a LOT.  There are tons of them!

I loved this cake!  I saw it online and then Kendra made it for the party- little teddy grahams on the beach! 

We also had some cookies decorated to look like flip flops!

And someone spent a LOT of time (several someones) threading fruit kabobs 

 

Just a little glimpse of the setup -  we had floral garland and white lights going around the fence, and along the tops of the canopies, tiki torches on the posts, paper lanterns, bright tablecloths with seashells on them, lots of tealight candles everywhere.  And the table there has a basket of leis for people and some other items.

** Similar to Caelan's party... why oh why are there NO pictures of any of this? Grrr!

 

Below is the "Tiki Bar" 

 

 

Above-  waiting.... I knew she would be pulling in any second...

and here she is (below) in the orange.  As she is rounding the corner soaking in just how many people were here! 

"What??  No way..." 

She was just a little bit overwhelmed! 

 

I had told her I wanted her to come over to make sushi since we had taken a class together on it-  I had even told her what ingredients I had already, and had a story of what time for her to come over- but no earlier because we wouldn't be home.  She swallowed the bait!  Now... once she turned onto our street- it was obvious there was something going on simply due to the huge number of cars everywhere.  I loved this moment though!!

Danielle and Eli-  with her grandparents and her dad (Dan) 

Serving up some good Hawaiian food-  slow cooked pineapple pork, rice, fruit, rolls 

My wonderful, supportive husband... who is also the chef of the awesome dinner! 

Rich and Lina-  with Dan L  

Matt and Dan 

Danielle with both of her parents- Dan and Val 

Lorraine and Pat with Dan 

Joe "Giuseppe" and Linda swinging near the fire pit 

Matt's folks (Karen and Dave)

and below.... the Bradways- Pastor Joe, Erika and Kendra 

 

And yes.... this was great!  Everyone had their picture taken in this!  And they were added to a journal that everyone wrote their well wishes to Danielle. 

Matt's parents

Matt and Me  

Dan Leach and Chloe

and below is Danielle and me 

The cake-  Hawaiian's never say "goodbye" - they say Aloha or Farewell or other phrases... the one on the cake is "A hui hou kakou" which is "Until we meet again"

She is a HUGE Star Wars fan... so we had to add "May the force be with you" and some action figures! 

So Until we meet again, may the force be with you!

Dan and Danielle

 

Later in the evening, after dark- we all gathered around Danielle and Eli and prayed over them.  Then, released 4 sky lanterns- one for each of them.

 

These were taken really late after everyone but Danielle was gone-  the tables were all broken down and most stuff put away... but you can still get a little bit of the feel of things.  I loved the lights!! 

Candles like these were all around- on the tables, porch, and steps

 

Finally... one last picture

Cameron was still in Oregon with his dad and Jeremy was still in Afghanistan during the party-  so after they came back and before they left- we made sure to get a picture of them in this as well.... pretty darn cute!