July 3 and 4

On the 3rd of July my uncle threw a little dinner party for some family and friends. Naturally when the word "party" came up I flashed back to senior year of undergrad. My roomies and I used to go crazy with theme parties so I asked my uncle what his theme was gonna be. After thinking for a few seconds he decided to go with a simple "Enjoy life." Everyone was assigned something to bring. I was told to bring dessert. I wondered how I could incorporate the theme into cupcakes without simply writing it in icing. This is what I came up with:



Where's a place where people enjoy life? The beach!



The party was so so much fun. Patels on their own are silly...but you throw some alcohol in there and the silliness is quadrupled. This is my uncle from Miami. When he posed for the picture my brother said "Throw it down, Uncle!" and this is what we got:



Here are some of the women folk at dinner time. My uncle (Nana) made his awesome Thai soup and coconut chicken curry.



Here's the cook!



It was good seeing my cousins. I can't people how much they've grown up! Here's Rishal, my brother Deven, and Rikesh:



To add to the silliness we went with our tradition of playing Pictionary. It was a very heated game. It always is when you put men against women. My aunt started cheating in the middle...and the men knew it. My response? Squeezing her face and asking them if this face would ever lie to them:



Then there was the 4th of July. I went to Tampa for day and some friends and I stopped off at Cindy's BBQ. We were all having fun but then I found a tiny American hat. Why is it that small things are so much fun. I knew the only person who would truly appreciate the tiny hat would be Kalen. Oh was I right. It took so much effort to take these pictures because we were laughing so hard.



Papa says "Happy 4th of July...now get this off my head or I'll cut you". He's a tough cat.