Tennessee Time

After 16 LONG days... Mom and Dad came down to Franklin, TN to join the kiddos and the rest of the family.  We were excited for a quick two day trip in TN with lots of people and sightseeing to do!  We were hosted by the Lovely Tony and Tami (Kris' cousins).  They had a beautiful location, a wonderful driveway to play basketball and most of all... Amazing Hospitality!  Thank you So much for hosting us, teaching us how to make delicious green smoothies and lending us a vehicle for the weekend!

Saturday was the family reunion! Linda hosted the event and we were excited to see all the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  We even got to meet a few new kiddos!  Karsten was Enamoured by Aria, Kendra's 7 month old daughter.  Just beautiful to watch them together. He was So Gentile!

Every party has a kid table... Looks like Kris and Tami were sat at the correct one!

How do we burn off those dinner calories?  A bounce house, of course!  Kids had a great time playing, while the grown up kids sat around chatting up a storm.

What is a family reunion if we don't do all kinds of generation pictures! The first pic is of all the siblings, then the cousins, then the little cousins (minus a few)!

Pat, Linda, Clyde and Chaz



Adam, David, Kris
Tami, Kendra, April, Amy
Connor, Jake, Rory, Karsten, Kasey





Rory, Archer, Connor, Karsten and Kasey
(Jake and Aria are MIA)

Sunday, our little family drove down to the heart of Nashville.  Upon arriving, we ran into these guys!  Kasey was enamoured with Cindy Bear, but really just felt like he was part of the gang.  Karsten, well, um... you see the pic below and tell me how he feels about Yogi Bear.

After our adventure with the bears, we headed further downtown to see some country stars and learn a little more Nashville history.  We toured the Grand Ole Opry and ran into Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff.  They were kind enough to sit on a bench for us and Karsten even got to sit on Minnie's lap!

Amy was really excited to see famous bars such as Tootsies and the great performers there.  Kasey had other ideas.  He quickly spotted the Monster Truck! After our photo op, we headed to hear some music.  Tootsies didn't last long as it was really tiny and Really Loud!  Kasey was less than pleased and covered his ears the Whole time we were in there.

The Honky Tonk had live music, but we sat way in the back so it wasn't so loud.  After awhile, Kasey warmed up to the loud atmosphere and started smiling.  We even got him on the dance floor a couple times.

Karsten was my Favorite story of this day.  He asked his mamma to dance (ah, makes my heart melt!).  After boogie-ing out to a few great songs by a local band; we decided to retreat to our table only to be stopped by the lead singer.  He hollered after us to come back as the drummer had brand new drum sticks he wanted to give Karsten!  We promptly thanked him to which he replied... you won't thank me later when he is practicing!

The next two pics are pretty special, although we didn't know how special at the time.  We were just crossing a cool looking pedestrian bridge to get to a play park for the boys and chose to stop for a few quick pictures.  We found out that later that evening this was the exact spot where David proposed to April! I can just see him down on one knee... can't you!

The boys did a great job sight seeing and never ran out of steam or had a melt down.  So, to celebrate our great day we chose to stop off at a Steak-N-Shake for some ice cream!  The kids loved their shakes, but I think the hats and cars made them smile the most.

Our last night in town was incredible.  We were blessed to a surf and turf dinner with some yummy fresh fish, sirloins, corn on the cob, squash... the list goes on.  Yum!  The perfect way to end dinner and our fun weekend in TN was to sit by a fire, roast marshmallows and share stories from the weekend.  Kasey is trying to summon the fire gods in this next photo while Connor is trying to keep little Jake safe!

One of the highlights for Amy this trip? ... Well, I think it was the bond which developed between Kasey and his 2nd cousin, Connor.  They played so well together (even though there is a 2 yr age difference) and neither of them got enough of each other the whole weekend!  We can't wait to come back and play again soon!

My Gypsy Children

I've often heard about the travels of Gypsies, but I Never thought my kids would be in that category.  However, when the opportunity of travel came up and it didn't conflict with 'school work' (kids are still in preschool)... we had to jump on it.  As a result, the kiddos packed their bags (they picked out every piece of clothing and toy they wanted!), hugged their cat and dog extra hard and gave a few last minute cuddles to their mom and dad.... and were Ready to Hit the Road!

As the parents were left behind, this blog will be a little vague on details because; lets be honest; I am Totally going to make up the stories as I see the pictures ;-)  These first two pictures for instance...  They were one of the first pictures taken on Gma and Gpa Cannode's camera.  This led me to believe they took photos of the boys so they could give recent pictures to the cops in case the boys got lost along the road trip. *Kidding, guys!*  Really cute shots though, don't you think!?!? 

As far as their road trip, both the boys were kind enough to take their turn at the wheel.  That long drive to TN is Much easier when you can break up the trip between four drivers instead of just two. In their down time between driving shifts, the boys would relax by playing on their Ipads.

They boys practice emergency and tornado drills in school this time of year.  This picture must be of them showing Gma and Gpa what do do in case of an emergency.

Since they are out of school, the boys requested an educational tour of the US.  Along the drive Karsten requested Gpa pull over so he could get his picture taken with the Wind Turbines.  He loves to tell you all about how the turbine converts kinetic energy into electrical power.  Ok, maybe he just likes how big they are and that they spin!  They also got to visit the Gateway Arch in St Louis.  Kasey is fascinated by the fact that this is the tallest man-made monument in the United States.  Ok, much like his brother, he loves how big it is and thinks it looks cool.

 Upon arriving in TN, there was a lot of family time as well as plenty of time to run off steam.

 The boys even learned how to perform chores like, chopping wood and heading down to the stream to wash their clothes (kidding again, folks).

Look who joined us!  It is Uncle David and AUNT April.  I stress the Aunt part since this was a very exciting weekend coming up.  In this photo, April is unaware of how exciting it will be as the picture was taken on Thursday and by Sunday... her left hand was a lot heavier than in this picture.  We have no photos of the event, but are excited to announce the Engagement of David and April!

Living the High Life

Yup, that is us - living the high life in Breckenridge, Colorado.  We had a beautiful weekend and wonderful friends who joined us.  Was a wonderful 'Staycation'.  Kyle had the excellent idea of a Staycation since we often take the beauty of Colorado for granted.  We started it off meeting up for happy hour at ... where else?... a Marriot (who Kyle just so happens to work for).

Our Friday evening was pretty much more of what you see in the first two pictures... no need to relive those glory days.  Saturday morning we had planned to snow shoe (notice the lack of snow near us) or hike.  As a result of staying up too late on Friday night... we decided to take it easy on Saturday.  That included starting our day out by the hot tub!  The girls even got a few laps in (they are training for a tri this Aug).

After we got 'enough sun' we decided to walk around Breck to see the beauty and check out the local shops.  One of those shops just so happened to be a local distillery.  Free tastings? Sure!

After a leisurely check out on Sunday, we hit the road to head out to Dillon on our way home.  There is a range set up that is self managed by the participants present.  It was a great range with a beautiful view of the mountains.  Only downfall? Those darn power lines were detracting from our view... oh ... and yeah... the range was directly next to the landfill (ew).  We brought up three different guns for the occasion, Kyle's 9Mil, Amy's 45 and Kris' AR-15.  All of the guns were great fun to shoot!  Here are the best pictures of us 'looking tuff'.  But first, a lesson on the guns for everyone.  Safety First, kiddos!

See what I mean about the beauty of the mountains! ... but those darn power lines!  I love this next picture.  It was Amy's first shot ever on the AR-15.  You can just hear me say "whoa" in the picture.  It sure was fun to shoot!  Not an awful lot of kickback, but pretty loud!

Another Staycation in our Future?? I Sure Hope So!  Next time, we might even bring the kids!