Labor Day or Party Day?

Labor Day is not a holiday that one usually associates with partying. Not so for me, however. I have some serious partying history with this holiday weekend. There was a period for several years, back in the 80's, when my side of the family held "Labor Day Olympics", complete with various athletic challenges (although using the term "athletic" in relation to events such as dropping a clothespin in a bottle may be a bit of a stretch). We had medals and awards; it was a fun time. We missed a year or two and the next thing you know, that party fell by the wayside. Labor Day became just another long holiday weekend. Flash forward a few years, into the early 90's and Wayne starts grade school and becomes friends with twins named Adam and Jeff. Next thing you know, we become good friends with their parents, Mark and Cathy and lo and behold, they begin a whole 'nother Labor Day party tradition. They invite over several families and spoil us rotten with fantastic food, drink and best of all, friendship. It is hard to believe that they have been hosting this amazing party for somewhere around 15 years. When we first started going, the kids were little. Check out this picture:
In the back row: Adam, Jeff and Wayne; in the front row Sally, Jack and Mark
I think this is the year that the song "Nine Margaritas" started; that's what they were singing when this picture was taken. It is a song that Mark made up (and I don't recall that we ever had margaritas, though maybe we did one year) and boy, has it stuck!!!

Here are a few pictures from this year's festivities:
Cathy and Sally
Mark and Mason, Jeff and Andi's (almost) 3 month old adorable son
The "boys", Jeff, Adam and Wayne
We missed Chris and Krissy this year (Mark and Cathy's oldest son and his wife) as they were in Vegas, poor things. Also, Don and Susan were out of town and so were also missed.
As always, the evening ended with the singing of "9 Margaritas"... here, for your viewing pleasure, is this year's rendition: