On May 19 (or 20th.. since I always get the date wrong) my parents will have been married 40 years. In this day and age where the average marriage seems to last about 36 days, I think this is a pretty amazing thing.

My sister and I wanted to do something to celebrate this accomplishment but we had a problem; our parents are moving away before May 1st and wouldn't be here to celebrate with us! Since we knew they wouldn't want a big deal made out of the whole thing, I figured they'd be ok with us celebrating without them. Heh. So Deb and I came up with a plan B - throw them a joint Going Away and Anniversary party!

Our next hurdle was making the party a non-party, since a) my parents wouldn't want one and b) we didn't have a ton of money or space. Since my parents and my sister's family tend to go to the Cabane a Sucre every spring, why not try to do something there? This way our parents wouldn't suspect a thing because it would be way before their anniversary and move date.

We've been planning this since December although I give total credit to my sister for all the hard work (finding a place, making reservations, making and sending out invitations) because I dropped the ball due to the extra crazy that was work when I got back from strike with my boss away until February. In fact, I'd completely forgotten about this until the day I got the invite in the mail and I called my sister and said "OMG! Thank you! You're awesome, we'll be there!" I feel bad for not being able to have done more prep, but I didn't even have time to take lunch at work for 3 months. Ugh.

We had 26 family and friends all together and the last hurdle was getting my parents there.

Why? Well, they are still house hunting, unfortunately and were headed back to their prospective new town to look at a house today. My sister had to sort of break the surprise by saying they couldn't cancel the outing, but she wouldn't tell them who was coming. ;) Oops.

Of course after 2 weeks of wonderful weather today was cold and wet, but it turned out to be a decent afternoon. I don't think I have ever gone sugaring off on a warm, sunny day. It's always cold and wet in my experience!

We had not-so-healthy food:

My nice Lilly, our cousin Audrey and I had our arms painted:

I fed some goats and got ignored by a llama:

We took a horse and wagon ride:

I happen to love this photo!

We ate snow toffee:

And Lilly went on a pony ride:

My parents seemed much less grumpy about the whole thing by the end of it. Even if you don't want people to make a big deal over you, it's nice to know so many people love you, want to celebrate you and want to wish you well as you move away. By combining both events it gave people a chance to share their love and wishes with my parents. They will be missed by friends and family and it's nice to know you have friends and family to visit when you come  back once in a while. ;) I wish we could have done more, had more people (many couldn't make it and we just didn't have the money to rent a hall or something) but I think it was a nice, smaller group and everyone seemed to have a good time.

I know my grandparents would have made sure something was done had they still been around. We always celebrated their milestone wedding anniversaries and since they were together 70 years by the time they passed away, they are pillars of the institution of marriage and that's something so rare these days. My grandparents (my Mum's parents) were big on family and love and would have wanted to be here to celebrate their daughter and son-in-laws' 40th. Even though my parents' anniversary is normally on a long weekend in May, it would have been impossible to get everyone 3 hours away to celebrate on that weekend. This way we could all participate!

I have not been to a real cabane a sucre since high school. This place wasn't bad, although the service could have been better at the table my sister and parents were at. Ours wasn't so bad, but they really were stingy with the portions. Eh, it was really nice OUTSIDE, so once the rain stopped and the weather warmed (slightly) it was nice to walk around.

Mostly, it was nice to be with family and friends who wish my parents nothing but love and happiness in their future together - away from us. ;)