Beach bash.

For Ryan's 12th annual pool party, he chose a beach theme, so out came the palm trees and coconuts!

I threw some rubber duckies in the pool before the party (they were left over from my ducky-themed bunco), never realizing they would be turned into grenades during the party! It was fun watching the kids chunk them back and forth across the pool.

Conspiring...

...and then attacking!

The adults found what shade they could to stay cool and (mostly) dry.

We commented that in the 12 straight years that we've been having these pool parties, our pool seems to have shrunk! These big kids take up more room than the little ones did back in the day!

It's become a tradition for us to serve Utz cheese balls, and this year, one partier discovered that they are delicious when dipped in the chocolate fountain (a.k.a., the chocolate volcano).

When it was time to cut the cake,

...we had a kitchen full of friends and family!

He's been 12 for three days, and I still can't believe it.

Several of the guys took a look around Brett's collection, and at one point, Brett got to show them his book. Pretty cool!

Present time!

Ryan was surprised to get a dock for his iPod. He was so tickled with all of his gifts! At one point, I think he had dollar signs for eyes.

So another crazy swimming party is in the books. Since our house is for sale, this may be our last one of these parties here, so we really tried to soak it all in. Have we really had 12 of these parties? That's a lot of cheese balls!