The Leap Year Tradition

I've never met anyone else who celebrates Leap Year the way Stephen's family does.  For 32 years, they have been gathering for dinner at a restaurant in the town where he grew up every time February 29th rolls around.  They've usually gone to the same restaurant where the tradition began, but there have been a few times that, for some reason or another, they've had to dine elsewhere.

This was one of those years.  The original restaurant has closed its doors.  So we gathered in another local restaurant (which, quite frankly, had much better food!).

Family comes from near and far, east coast and west.  We open the envelopes with family predictions that we made and sealed last Leap Year.  And then we make new ones which will be opened in 2016.  We make guesses about how much we might weigh, how tall we'll be (for the kids), where we'll be living and how many of us there will be.  What began as a family of 5 has grown to a family of 15.  The gathering gets a little larger and a little more chaotic every time, but some of the kids are now getting old enough to appreciate this fun tradition.

Afterwards, we descend on the home of some dear friends-of-the-family who live nearby.  They are used to large groups as their family is larger than ours, and they graciously host us overnight and feed us well.  It's always a treat to visit with them and their children and grandchildren the next day.

So here are some pictures from our gathering:

Grandma with the bigger grandkids

Predictions

Fruit for dessert

Grandma with one of the little guys

Hanging with Uncle Red

The little girls with our very gracious hostess

The boys loved playing silly games with Uncle Red's iPhone

Fishing for toys in the coffee table

The granddaughters with Grandma

Everybody loved the iPad

Two little squirts figuring out foosball

Typical Cade with his tongue sticking out as he concentrates

Another little guy - I adore his brown eyes!

Grandma reading a book

Somebody is tired

But Daddy doesn't mind snuggling her

The whole crew!