Cousins!

Last week Ethan and I took a trip down to Colorado to visit my family while Aaron took a trip to Dallas for a weekend with the guys. It was our first trip out of Alaska since we arrived back in February and we were pretty excited about it. Ethan took his first plane ride, first trip to Lower 48, first time meetings his Kimble side aunts and uncles and cousins. Big week for the little guy. 

 We made the trip to Colorado to get to see Nana and Poppy, meet his aunts and uncles and 2 year old cousin Anni as well as meet his brand new cousin Kate!  Here is Nana with all her grandbabies. 

I'll just admit up front that I did a horrible job of taking pictures of the week.  These last two pictures are stolen from my sister's blog.   I didn't get very many shots of E with the family and I couldn't find my camera when the cousins were all together with Nana.  Luckily others stepped up for me. 

One of the highlights of the week was getting to meet my sister's second little girl, who turned two weeks old while we were there. Katelyn Sue is a sweet little baby!  Cari and Glenn got lucky with her as she loves to sleep and seems to have a mellow little personality.

It was also a lot of fun to see my other niece Anni.  At two and a half she's very entertaining, always talking and playing - even her little bits of the terrible two's were pretty cute.  She seems to like being an older sister and didn't have a rough adjustment period at all, very impressive!  (Check out  Hush House o'Chaos to see more of Kate and Anni!)

My brother and his fiance Michelle drove up from Tulsa, OK to hang out with us for a few days.  It was great to see them and catch up.  We can't wait for their wedding in June!

The weather was fantastic that week so we spent a lot of time outside.  Ethan is starting to like dogs a lot and likes to touch them.  Greg's dog, Goose, is still a puppy himself and didn't seem to mind the babies.

We spent an afternoon at the children's museum in Denver to see the bubble exhibit.  The museum was cool, but the best part was the park outside!

Ethan had a good time playing with his Poppy on the park toys.

Ethan thinks he can do anything the big kids do - even if his fingers aren't long enough to hold onto the bars...

Ethan's Nana is very silly and he had a good time playing with her.  I think everyone was surprised to see how Ethan moves a more than Nana's sweet little granddaughters.  He's constantly jumping around and gets in maniac mode where he's so excited he can't help but yell and pound on anything close to him...I'm hoping he slows down a bit before he starts walking!

Ethan did fantastic on the plane rides.  We were lucky to get direct flights from Anchorage to Denver and back, so didn't have to mess with connections.  The flight down to Denver was a red eye and Ethan slept the whole way - it was fantastic.  I think his favorite part of flying was that he finally got to touch a TV screen (on the back of the seat).  He explores his world by touching and putting in his mouth and this TV was actually close enough to touch - very exciting!  (and no, I did not let him put his mouth on it...)

The flight back was an evening flight and after about an hour of being in hyper maniac mode, he managed to sleep for a few hours.  Luckily he only cried for a minute or two before he went to sleep. 

It was a great week for us.  It's always nice to get to see family and fun to get out of Alaska for a bit.  We got the added bonus of getting to see Ethan's Great Grandma Dolly, Carmella my girlfriend from college, and Amanda and Chris Varnon from Houston.  I didn't get pictures of those guys, so instead here is Ethan teaching his Poppy everything he's learned about cards.  :)