Great Grandma's 90th Birthday Bash

90 years old! Holy Cow! That is a good long life -- and pretty darn healthy on top of that. I think Mom has only been in the hospital time five times -- three times to birth her boys, and 2 times for knee replacement surgery. We should all be so lucky... Anyway, we found out that Mom's favorite food was seafood (salmon in particular) and so the whole family (sadly, we missed the Halls) gathered Monday evening, the 19th May, at Market Street Grill in Cottonwood. Diane arranged a room on the lower patio for us to be together. It was a beautiful spring evening (one of the very few we had during the month of May). Cottonwood Creek was running nearby. The wisteria was out in fragrant bloom, just for the hay fever and allergy crowd. It was quiet and peaceful -- a perfect evening for Velma's birthday. As you can imagine, one of the highlights of the evening was the singing of Happy Birthday by the Stewart family chorus. Yes...In public. With Scott setting the pitch. And, everyone in fine voice and not holding back (it was her 90th birthday, after all). The resounding success of our celebration hymn was evident when the manager of the restaurant hurried to our patio room to see if there was anything wrong. Perfect! After sharing a few memories and finishing our meal (four families, approximately $300.00 per family = $1200.00 worth of food), it was time to call it a night. Mom was thrilled to have such a gathering for her birthday. Her only regret -- that the Halls had to miss the party, especially those two little great-grandsons. I think her only hope is to live long enough to see them again in August. Here are a few pictures of the gathering:

A frisky Great Grandma, getting her pose on...

'Da Boys!

The Michigan Ave. Stews

The Whole Stew Crew

Preparing for the feast -- a wonderful time was had by all.....!