Everybody together in one place

On the occasion of our parents' 40th anniversary, we all flew into town and threw them a surprise party. It was all Grace's idea and she was smart enough to get the folks' friends in on it. There was lots of good food and good friends and it was a great surprise. (It's a good thing we didn't wait 'til their 50th or we might have had to call the EMT's.)

So here we are all in one place.

Shindiggity!!

We had a great Shak Shindig 2006! Over 50 people attended and everyone had a great time. The smile quotient was off the scales!

My favorite moment was around 5:00 in the afternoon - everyone was wandering on back to the Shak from the beach, the dock, and the meadow... we'd just finished boiling up a whole mess of crab and Kate was serving homemade strawberry shortcake... I looked around and everyone looked relaxed and happy. That was the best -- what a Great Day!

Here are some photos. Follow the link above to the Shak Shindig 2006 blog or these links to more photos posted at Picassa and Webshots.

A chance to relax after a dozen Shindig Shuttle flights.

Wouldn't be a shindig without Keith, because he introduced us to Decatur.

Diana is the official photographer of the Shindig - every year!

The Shak Shindig Tractor Taxi service courtesy of Alan.

Shin-diggity-doo!!!

Sarah sported the Shindiggiest Tattoo - just for the occasion.

And of course - the Honda 70 - best island vehicle ever.
It just makes you giggle.

GrillZilla!!

We decided we needed to upgrade our grill out at the Shak. So we sat around the campfire one night and, well, one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to...

Grill-Zilla

The grillzilla is a custom fabricated 42" steel grill cantilevered off a 4" steel column set in a steel sleeve that's buried in 40+" of concrete. At the base of the sleeve is a bearing plate allowing you to rotate the grill away from the fire pit to load food or build a fire.

The grille carriage is fabricated with eight brass wheels and an aluminum cam-lock handle and is rigged to a counterweight within the column. This provides precision height control over the open flame. The grillzilla simmers, roasts and sears with ease.




Check out the grillzilla in action at Shak Shindig 2006! Open flame cooking for 50 - No Problem!


Big shout out to Mark, John, Justin, Allen, and Sean - the engineering and build team for the GrillZilla!