Luau at the Lake

I look forward to this every summer.  My husband's best friend (from childhood) and his wife have a lot on a private lake and we have been having a luau with them for the last 3 years, tomorrow being the 4th.  This is also in celebration of my husband's birthday.  We recycle decorations from previous years and maybe add a few here and there when we catch them on sale.  We put a tablecloth on the picnic table and put a pineapple or Hawaiian centerpiece on the table and then spread seashells and some luau confetti all over it.  The table even gets a grass skirt on the ends.  We put up palm trees and flowers and other luau decorations.  We have some old Blue Hawaii music or something similar to set the mood.

We hand out leis when people arrive and some of the ladies and kids wear grass skirts.We have food and a tiki bar.  This year we are serving sloppy joes to every one and margaritas to those 21+.  Everyone that attends brings a side dish to share.  We swim, fish, paddle boat, canoe and play sand volleyball.  We limbo once it gets dark.  We really just let loose and have fun.  The kids play all day together.  If anyone has too much to drink, they can spend the night in a tent.  My family just camps every year so we stay no matter what.

What I really like is it brings people together that normally don't get to spend much time.  It makes for positive memories and those are the kinds of memories I like.  My daughter catches toads and kisses them and swims with them.  My son rides bikes with his friends and gets really dirty and swims too.  I love to see my children happy and the lake, luau or not, makes them VERY happy.  Next year I will make it a point not to let derby interfere so much with my family's lake time in the summer.  I miss it a lot.  I've only been down there 3 times this summer.  C'mon Saturday, bring on some great weather for that luau!  Aloha!