Best reunion EVER!

This is just so beautiful, it's hard to figure out where to start...

So...last weekend we drove to Giddings for Aaron's 15 year high school reunion. We missed the 10 year reunion because we we still living in Hawaii at the time, so we figured since we actually live in Texas now, we were obligated to go this time. We loaded up Roscoe, George, and Mabel (yes, Mabel, the Great Dane) into our civic and headed down for the 4 hour car ride. I am sure that people who saw us driving down the highway with two schnauzers and a great dane in the back seat thought we were totally insane. In retrospect, it seems that 3 dogs is 2 too many to take a 4 hour road trip in a civic. But, we finally made it, after a stop at a Whataburger along the way to get some fries to tide everyone over about midway through the trip.

So, here is the beautiful part. We show up at the reunion, which is being held at the "American Legion," a medium sized metal building that is used during the week as a gathering place for veterans from WWII. I am guessing this because there were photos all over the wood paneled walls of army guys. So, we walk in and there are maybe 20 people there. Of these 20, about 17 of them were dressed in full western wear, complete with Wranglers, cowboy hats and the like. It was special.

Aaron introduced me to some of the people, and we "mingled," mostly by standing around the beer keg, which as located outside (not sure why). It was then that I noticed there was a dee jay just for our party. And that was when the festivities really took off. The guy in charge announced that it was time for some dancing demonstrations, and called a couple up to the front of the room to perform. This clip is perfect because you can really see the special demonstration, clothing, and venue all at once.

After a while, we had barbeque, and then they decided to turn the florescent (sp?) lights off and turn on the strobe light, which really kicked things up several notches. I convinced them to turn the lights back on so that I could get a video of two of Aaron's classmates demonstrating a dance to "Baby Got Back." Again, truly remarkable, as you can probably imagine.

The highlight of the evening was when they unveiled the "Prize" table. I cannot even begin to do justice to the prizes. Here is a picture of the prize table.

In case you are not able to see the depth, breadth, and scope of the prizes that were won at the reunion, I will recount them for you here. The complete collection includes: 1) Hairbrush, 2) SoftSoap, 3) a box of strawberry pop tarts, 3) a bag of candy, 4) a 2 liter bottle of green tea, 5) a pink candle, 6) a stuffed tiger, and 7) a tin soup bowl with "SOUP" on the side.

It was truly an awe inspiring assortment of goods, as you can see. Aaron won the tin soup cup/bowl, which he proceeded to fill with beer and sip from the remainder of the evening. We were hoping for the pop tarts, but oh well.

Here's a pic of the whole crew at the end of the evening. What a handsome class. It was truly an unforgettable experience. All I can say is "Wow."