As if May hasn’t been exciting enough for the three of us, we spent the last week with Shannon visiting from Austin along with a special guest appearance by Aunt Jeni all the way from Illinois to help us celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!  It was almost too much fun, as this excitement-over-Jeni-showing-up-in-taxi picture perfectly illustrates:

During this non-stop fun week (immediately on the heels of another non-stop fun week) there were several massage parties on our brand new massage table …

lots of cuddling …

lots of laughter as we made up for the years Shannon’s been gone from New York …

(shortly after this next picture was taken I did my Aggressive Signer routine for old time’s sake and injured Shannon’s foot.  After googling the symptoms, it became clear she was suffering a Jones Fracture, which is all the more awful when you know that her nickname for me is, in fact, Jones.)

a visit to Coney Island where Jeni got really dizzy on all the kiddie rides and I began showing signs of dementia, mistaking golden delicious apples for a set of watches.  Uh-oh …

a memorial day river picnic with classmate emelia (whereupon we added our beloved hammock to the sad list of items mysteriously lost since we moved last October)…

a delicious Indian dinner to celebrate Shannon’s birthday a few days early …

… and a charming little potluck picnic anniversary party at the nearby Castle Village lawn.  We did this mainly so that Shannon and Jeni could show everyone how little they’ve aged since our decade ago party.   Here’s 2002:

And 2012:

And here’s young bride and groom through the years.  1992:

2002:

And 2012:

Along with Shannon and Jeni, only three friends from our 10th anniversary party made it to #20 (which goes to show how many people are busy during Memorial Day weekend, how many people have moved away from New York AND how many new friendships we’ve made in the last ten years).  One of them was Tia Rosie, who also made our delicious cupcakes:

Another was Michael Arthur himself, who made us this work of art …

Most of these children did not yet exist ten years ago …

And the third was Charlie, our dear friend, pastor and boss, who somehow did not get a picture taken.  He did, however, hang this decoration on the gate.  Aside from perfect weather, wonderful friends and much laughter, the highlight of the evening for me happened seconds after taking this picture:

A family walked by and the mom told her child, “Oh, looks like someone’s having a 20th birthday party.”

Then she caught my eye and said, “Happy birthday.”

Thank you, Party Champions, for making every special occasion even better!