¡El Grande Fiesta! 22 Julio 2006

* Note: Additional images provided by Tina & Bill in Sept. '06; added to blog Oct. 3 2006. Thanks, Coopers!

Everybody gradually emerged the next morning and began to gear up for the Fiesta. While Del and Gary were dressing up Mr. Hog in the garage...

...Brent was waking up in the cooker! Ahhh...refreshing. :)

Cut to later in the day -- Bud taps the keg! (The party officially got underway at 3pm.)

More random images of the festivities during the day...

Uncle Del (with Mom and Stacey) in his awesome Mexican get-up...

In my opinion, Del tied for best costume with Rick as "El Mariachi" (below, far right). Actually, Del's was a rental, so I guess Rick takes it. :) It was great when the guys came outside dressed in these outfits; they were greeted with cheers and rounds of applause from the crowd. Great stuff.

Bud's crazy "Run For The Border" contest, below.

It works like this: Three contestants begin at the starting line. An adequate level of dizziness is achieved by spinning around five times on a stick by the forehead. First you do the limbo under a bar, then continue to the next stage by throwing a coiled plastic snake onto an inflatable cactus. After successfully tossing the ring, you balance a ball on a spoon in your mouth while you run over to a sleeping bag on the ground. You then climb into the bag and hop to the finish line while being pelted with foam footballs by half the kids at the party. I'm not sure who won with the fastest time after all the craziness was over, Bud will have to fill me in...

Some further pig-preparation by Gary and Gary...

Dinner for approximately 120 guests was served at 7:30pm. As you can imagine, everything was awesome; everyone pitched in to lay out a hell of a spread. After everybody got a bite, the fiesta continued to get increasingly...loco...

Umm...can somebody tell me what's up with Danny? 6

Never mind!

Greg! Great to see the boys together again...

A few of Peter's buds dropped by with guitars and got the place singin.' Randy was the main dude; he could really play...

The party rolled on well into the wee hours; there were about 12 people still sitting around the fire-pit at sun-up! All I can tell ya is El Grande Fiesta '06 went off without a hitch. Inclimate weather had absolutely zero effect on the fun. I think I can speak for everyone who attended when I say thanks to Buddy & Laurie for hosting a truly great event. Muchos gracias, mi familia!

Hasta luego...

-B.