browne family reunion 2016!!!

we spent the first two weeks of August in florida for the browne family reunion! because I'm so, so far behind in blogging, i thought id post our top 5 favorite photos and move on... but it quickly became apparent that that was not going to happen. way too many amazing things took place! everyone was able to be there except for tony, who had to stay in germany. but layna and the kids made the journey and it couldn't have been a better reunion! the first week was packed full of fun activities for the reunion and the second week was spent lounging around while chris flew to wisconsin for a golf trip with his dad, bart. it was the greatest vacation ever. here are some photos from the reunion festivities:

a wedding!

the definite highlight of our trip was the marriage of rikki and andrew! there is nothing better in this life than seeing your best friend truly happy. we love andrew! we are so thankful for the man he is and the way he treats and cares for rikki.

one of the most special parts of the wedding, for me, was the fact that rikki and andrew chose to get married on my birthday. talk about the best gift in the world!

they were married at the naples court house on wednesday the 3rd and then held a gorgeous dinner for family, including the oldest cousins, that weekend. it was so much fun to watch ellie, jack, and everett at such a fancy dinner. they loved every second! just the other day ellie said, "today at school i couldn't stop thinking about eating that chocolate cake AND that napoleon at the wedding. still can't believe we got two desserts! i want another napoleon right now!" the boys couldn't get enough of the calamari and lobster ravioli. what a special night. the speeches made by both john, andrew's father, and our dad were so simple, yet so touching. it truly was a joyous gathering. here is a close up of the cake toppers that my mom made

only the parents went to the actual marriage ceremony, but we HAD to sneak over and decorate their car to surprise them :)

ok, back to the rest of the reunion activities!

 a beach day 

filled with tubing in the gulf, sea kayaking, collecting shells, and crying if you are named owen because you don't like the feel of sand. oh an of course, we had publix subs and root beer to chow down on!

a sports day

we went to the church and played grandpa's game called sasquatch hockey, a king and queen blowdart game, and a ginormous slip n slide

a scavenger hunt

lari and bo (ok, it was mostly lari!) put together the best scavenger hunt ever where we had to run all over an outdoor mall (gulf coast town center) to find and fulfill clues while sending the game master (a pregnant larissa) pictures of our teams fulfilling the challenges. hilarious with our very competitive clan!

after the hunt took place, we found out that andrew had bribed the employee at the juice store with money to stall any others that came in for the scavenger hunt... we knew he'd fit right in!

a night at game time

complete with all the arcade games, claw drop prize collectors, and even mini bowling. this was heaven on earth for both the kids and adults!

chris was the only one that was able to beat alli's record for this game:

luchador training

aunt layna brought stuff for everyone to create their own luchador mask and then larissa taught all of the lil' luchadors the ways of the luchador

other fun activities included paracord bracelet making with the men folk and kids

uncle bo's storytime

fishing

and swimming

while chris was in wisconsin, we spent every second with cousins lounging by the pool, or out on the water with a fishing rod in our hands. it truly doesn't get better.

we went to fernandez the bull for cuban sandwiches on my birthday. it was the kid's first time to our long time friend Frank's restaurant and jack is a cuban sandwich believer now!

owen and lou found my phone and i discovered several photos on it, which made me smile big time.

jack loves his olive. so, so much.