Award-winning cuteness

Last night our church hosted a Hawaiian party. The idea was to combat this horrible winter by pretending we're in a place like Hawaii. The party was a lot of fun and very well executed, but the fluorescent lights and cold tile floor of the church basement were no substitute for the sun and sand of Hawaii. Having to fake a warm climate is something Katherine and I never had to do in San Diego. But like I said, the party was a lot of fun and it was great to see Michiganders' interpretation of beach apparel.

Katherine was part of the planning sub-committee responsible for food and so for the past three nights has been pretty busy shopping, cooking, setting up and serving. The food was awesome. We had pulled pork, BBBQ sandwiches ("the extra B stands for BYOBB. What's THAT extra 'B' for? That's a typo." Twenty points if you can guess the reference.), teriyaki meatballs, mixed fruit skewers, chips, salsa, fruity (non-alcohol) drinks and a dessert spread that would make your mouth water (and pancreas explode).

Everyone got dressed up in their island garb. All Katherine and I had to do was go into our closet where we're keeping our summer clothes and pull out some of the things we used to wear in San Diego. Other people interpreted the mandate to dress up and wore outlandish Hawaiian-themed costumes. The primary interpretation was nerdy tourist, pretty much summed up by a loud shirt tucked into shorts and complimented by dark socks and sandals.

We weren't really planning anything for Lyla but Thursday night we were over a friends house (where Katherine and her co-committee members had prepped the food) and I mentioned that if I had had time and motivation I would have fashioned a tiny coconut-bikini for Lyla to wear. Our host says, "Hold on." and disappears into her house for a few minutes. She came back with a tiny coconut bikini and grass skirt which she loaned to Lyla. Um, awesome. Although it did make me face issues regarding Lyla wearing skimpy outfits far sooner than I was prepared for.

For entertainment, the organizers had a costume contest with a kids division and an adults division. To the right you can see the two winners:

For the adults - Pastor Tim, dressed as a nerdy, Japanese tourist (complete with a fanny pack, ridiculous glasses and a giant map stuck in his shirt pocket)

and for the kids - Lyla Ring!!!!! Dressed as an island native. Woo woo!! From the moment we arrived, everyone kept looking at her and saying she was a shoe-in for the contest. I felt kind of bad because there were a ton of other kids who had also dressed up in fun and festive garb and would have at least been aware that they won (not that Lyla's three-month old cognitive skills aren't developing, I just don't think she yet comprehends competition and the concept of winning). But someone reassured me that it's probably better that Lyla won because no one can argue about a cute baby winning, whereas if one seven year old one, the other ones might have questioned why they won their friend won the prize and they didn't. Speaking of prizes, the award for winning was a lovely cake decorated with an island theme. Being a family that's dominated by a diabetic and a (non-solid food eating) baby, we gave the cake to the family that loaned us the outfit in the first place. I'm sure their three kids and two cousins who were spending the night with them enjoyed it more than we would have.

Other events included a limbo contest and coconut bowling (we did not limbo and I did participate in the coconut bowling event). They also had a photography station with props for taking pictures. So I'll leave you with two pictures of Lyla-cakes water skiing. Enjoy!!