Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Family in Meeker


We were lucky enough to have my brother and his family take a week (and a half!) off to trek up to Colorado and spend their Etheridge family vacation in Meeker!


I dare saw we had plenty of entertainment;

~ if not for the endless trails to hike and bike and the river to raft and the lake to swim and waterfalls and caves to explore

~ and if not for the Legos, trucks, backyard games, campfire with S'mores, and bubble baths at Mojo & Dado's house

~ and if not for the trip to the soda fountain for a scoop of ice cream and the concert on the courthouse lawn and the Color Run and the Community Appreciation Day (that would warrant it's own blog post had we taken any photos! It was awesome.)

... well then we always had entertainment enough in just being together!
It was so fun just to watch these 4 cousins play together...


********


What a great visit - I'm already excited for the next time we can all be together.
Oh, and how wonderful that there will be a new Etheridge baby joining us next year, as well!!!
Congratulations Alec & Jei!

Friday, July 8, 2016

Family in Tennessee

We had a great family vacation in Tennessee last week...
kicking off with an afternoon baseball game in Denver!

Best. Game. Ever!!!!
Not only did we go with some of our best friends, but we got to see Gonzalez hit a grand slam and then cheered the Rockies on to a win with a walk-off home run by Story! Pretty Epic...

Then a quick & easy flight into Knoxville was met with a wonderful surprise announcement:
We are getting a new member of the Hightower family!!!
The 6th Hightower grandchild, Miss Charlotte Rose, will be joining our family in early December!

She will have lots of silly cousin love to share in:

Papa & Yaya treated us to an absolutely fantastic day at Dollywood's Splash Country waterpark.
We had beautiful weather, we rode ALL the rides, we enjoyed the luxury of a cabana for rest time and meals, and the grandkids were all tall/old/brave enough to take on even the most challenging waterslides...



THEN vs NOW
2011 vs 2016

The rest of the week was spent sharing quality time together at the house. There was much laughter, lots of good food and family visits, minimal tears/time-outs/scuffles, plenty of foosball tournaments and playing in the neighborhood pool, a trip to the movies and of course a night of s'mores and fun around the fire pit!