Happy Independence Day weekend, from all us weirdos...
But that's not why I'm writing today...I'm here to talk about our annual summer vacation to colorful Colorado! This was the first time in two years that my extended family (the Nashes) had all been together. Two new babies had been born since then--Aurora in January 2010, and her new cousin Caroline Nash, Ray & Adrienne's daughter (born on Christmas Eve, 2009):
As you can see, she is quite the adorable little girl, even when asleep. Caroline was very smiley & had a lot to say, but she was a little shy of the "pressing throng" of extended family. I'm sorry to say that I didn't get to snuggle with her as often as I liked; maybe next time! At any rate, she was still lots of fun to photograph.
We spent the first weekend just hanging out as a family. We all managed to fit into Grandma & Grandpa's house, and it was
pretty snug. However, we ate barbecue, played lots of games and generally relaxed & joked around. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for the first weekend, so you'll have to imagine these idyllic scenes in your mind.
Our first big outing as a family was to the
Denver Zoo; we all ate lunch together on the lawn before entering the zoo park. Here are a few of the highlights:
Of course, Nate was willing & able to give "helicopter rides" to all the little grandkids...
Isn't my littlest daughter beautiful? She looks like a little doll in this picture!
There was a splash creek for little kids inside the Zoo, so of course Celeste had to try it out...
This is Lorelai, posing next to an eyelash viper, a snake she'd learned about in kindergarten a few months before. She was so proud for recognizing it! We really enjoyed the Tropical Discovery wing of the Zoo; it was probably Lorelai's favorite part, since she had read about many of the animals beforehand. Aah, applied learning!
Simon & Caroline (heck, everybody) loved the lizards!!
And here's the biggest of all...the Komodo dragon. I won't lie...these things scare me. I'm glad there was a bunch of Plexiglass between me and the giant lizard.
Our adventure had actually begun that morning. Our van wouldn't start when it was time to head to the zoo! Needless to say, this caused us some concern. We were able to jump-start it in time to go, but for days afterward our car hemmed and hawed quite a bit every time we tried to turn it on. We finally went & bought a new car battery, and that seemed to fix everything. We're grateful this mishap took place when we were already in Colorado; it was good to have family around to help!
We were also able to spend some time with the extended Barrett family while in Colorado. In fact, we even spent a morning at the Barrett family business...
Nathan's older brother Grant, and his wife Molly, own
Abilene Awards, a trophy/engraving shop that's been in the family for more than 15 years. As you may have read about recently,
Lorelai was on a soccer team this spring. Sadly, we missed her last two games of the season due to our vacation. However, we made up for this by providing trophies for all the players and coaches---at a very good rate, I might add. And best of all, our whole family was able to visit the trophy shop one morning and assemble the trophies ourselves!
First Nate inputted the team names into the engraving program in the computer...
Then we all started assembling the trophy pieces together.
...although I must confess, I am a bit of a fumble-fingers, so it took me a while.
Of course, the kids were goofing off with their cousins all through the shop while all this was going on.
Then we glued the plaques on each trophy, and lined them up to ship out that very day! Well, except Lorelai's...she got her trophy right away...
Well, we like our daughter better than the rest of the team...and
our family is the owner of the trophy store, so...yeah, Lorelai gets the biggest trophy. We admit it. Anyway, thanks again, Grant & Molly and Abilene Awards, for your patience & help while we invaded your shop for a whole morning!
That same evening, we had a large BBQ at the Campbell's house (Nate's sister Kelli, her husband Taryn, and their 4 cute boys). The food was good, the company better, and the view was, as always, magnificent:
(That's their backyard. Yeah...the whole thing. I
love visiting their house!)
Here's Nate with his wonderful dad & mom:
And here are two of Nate's brothers (that's Grant, the trophy shop owner, in the dominant position over youngest brother and former wrestler Evan), in their typical family reunion position.
And after dinner, the girls relaxed...together...
It was wonderful to spend a relaxing evening in the beautiful Colorado mountains...thanks, Kelli & fam!
Up next: more summer vacation hijinks.
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