The final piece of Thomas' birthday surprise was a weekend trip to Estes Park where we celebrated Thomas, Marc and Rob's 40ths together. Okay, it was early for Marc and Rob, but they didn't seem to mind. We managed to mostly keep the trip a surprise from all of the guys. Details here.
We chose Colorado because it was vaguely centrally located, when considering couples from Atlanta, Houston and San Diego. We also liked it because of the beautiful views, hiking, breweries, and some of the features of the house we rented, including the hot tub and wood burning fireplace.
The boys
View from one of our four decks (plus, mimosas!)
On our hike to Cub Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
Cub Lake (did I mention about the beauty?!)
After our hike, we drove to Lyon, CO to the Oskar Blues Brewpub, where they happened to be having Octoberfest, complete with a polka band
Shannon, Rachel and I might have been a little lost in the polka music, had we not had our husbands to share their (apparently vast) knowledge of polka with us. Case in point, before the polka band even started to play, there was a prediction that this particular song would be 4th on the set list. And they were right.
The guy in the band is playing a washboard tie
After Octoberfest polka fun, the serendipitous fun kept coming! Just around the corner we found this amazing place.
It was so great to spend the weekend together. Our children were well cared for by a hugely appreciated group of family, friends and babysitters. They seemed to have a really terrific weekend, too!
We had a great president's day weekend in Galveston -- despite several of us being sick, and the weather providing fog so thick that we couldn't even see the water from our beach house some of the time! The big kids got along really well, and Emily kept us adults entertained.
We took a grown-ups only trip to Chicago this weekend. I went up early to help Mandi with wedding dress shopping (we found one!). Thomas came up on Friday and we stayed the rest of the weekend with Stubbie & Shannon (and their growing fetus). While we were away, Carter had an excellent time with his Cart Cart here in Atlanta.
At Hopleaf with Andy, Mandi and Ross (Not the only favorite food spot we hit, I also ate at Victory's Banner and Cross-Rhodes the same day!)
Playing darts at Cody's, our favorite neighborhood dart bar
Grocery shopping (with beer!) at the second largest Whole Foods in the country
The bride and groom at rehearsal. Here comes the bride! What do you figure they are talking about?
See the Kimbro blog for pics of the men getting pretty.Oh, and for the record, when Carter saw the three of them in their tuxes on the way out, he pointed at them and burst out laughing. I'm not sure what that was about...
Ah, how weddings inspire romance...There were happy couples everywhere!
Here are a couple of pictures that I forgot to post last week. Shannon and Carter.
I love how sometimes birthday fun can go on for weeks and weeks. Check out the very cute Crocs that Shannon (and Stubbie, ostensibly) got Carter for his birthday!
Shannon and Ashley were in town this weekend while our men were living it up at Stubbie's bachelor party in Chicago. In order that we might be able to live it up ourselves, Carter spent Saturday night with Patrick and Kirstin (my first non-business night away from him). When Patrick and Kirstin brought Carter back this morning, three of Carter's aunts/"aunts" were in one place!
The bride and groom at rehearsal.
